Life With You
by PastelSunsets
Summary: Mariah Daniels' preference of working alone becomes altered as soon as she meets the Winchesters; again, and again. Who'd say no to tagging along with them? Everything is fine, until a new threat arises. And since the beginning, Mariah has been the key to defeating her. Rated for language. Sam x OC.
1. Cooper

_**Hey, a new story.**_

 _ **This isn't an AU, but has a different plotline than what has happened or what is going on in SPN. Basically a lot of characters that are canon don't exist in this story.**_

 _ **This doesn't mean I won't be continuing my other, of course.**_

 _ **Bear with me, this story is placed six years back.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs.**_

* * *

 _ **Life With You**_

 _ **Chapter One: Cooper**_

August 23, 2012

"Don't look at me like that, Cooper. You do this every time."

The sable German Shepherd Mariah was speaking to just cocked his head innocently.

This was a regular routine for them; Cooper would try and pull his 'puppy-dog-eyes' act on Mariah to get out of being washed, and she would just shut it down as if she wasn't affected at all. Honestly, Mariah was surprised Cooper hadn't caught on to the fact his act never worked, yet, still he persisted.

With how many bathes Cooper needed because of his adventurous attitude, Mariah would probably admit to being jealous. With her typical line of work, showers were one of life's pleasures, despite the fact she'd usually come home with just a small amount of energy that only allowed her to drag herself to bed.

"I don't know what you did, but you smell horrid. You're not getting out of this. Not again."

With that, Cooper sighed and lowered his head slightly as if he understood, and reluctantly walked forward so he could be cleaned. Mariah praised him with a grin, and gave him a good scratch behind the ears before wetting his coat with the hose she'd been holding for the past ten minutes. Despite Cooper's usual stubbornness about bathes, he was thankfully compliant, thus easy to clean.

"I'm sure you don't care about the smell, but we humans definitely do."

As if knowing what she said, Cooper looked up at Mariah and gave her one of his dog grins. Mariah liked to call them shit-eating grins, because he'd always show them off whenever he did something he wasn't supposed to.

Once he was completely wet, Mariah released her grip on the hose and reached down for the bottle of shampoo. Cooper took this opportunity to shake his pelt out, successfully both showering Mariah with water droplets and smacking her in the face with his wet tail.

Mariah impulsively stood up straight and stepped back, face twisted into a look of mild disgust with her lips pressed together to prevent water from entering her mouth. Cooper looked up at her again, the innocent expression from before coming back. Mariah couldn't help but give him a small smile, wiping her face with her dry forearm and bicep.

"Thanks, dude."

In spite of Cooper's apparent childish nature, Mariah couldn't help but find whatever he did fairly funny. Watching him investigate where a squirrel ran off to or react weirdly to new objects was a small, yet huge thing in Mariah's life. She's only had Cooper for eight months, and she already decided she'd do anything for him.

Usually, being a hunter meant a larger amount of seriousness, sadness, injuries, death and just unpleasant situations on all sorts of levels to add what life already had to offer. However, Mariah didn't like that description very much, no matter how true it was. Yes, Mariah took her job very seriously and acted cold on the job, and yes, the job may be difficult, but Mariah always tried to look on the bright side of things; if she could. And maybe mutter a joke in the middle of a hunt when she knew it was safe.

Though, sometimes there would be a few times Mariah would work with other hunters, and it was difficult to have any sort of fun. Even a small joke would be shot down with a glare, and the rest of the day would be moody. One reason Mariah preferred to work alone. The other reasons, Mariah didn't like to dwell on, even if she did it involuntarily.

Looking up, Mariah spotted Cooper about ten feet away from her, daring her to chase after him. Mariah rolled her eyes and lifted her hands, letting them fall and slap against the sides of her legs. "Cooper, you can't run from your problems." She told him, almost laughing at herself for being an outright hypocrite.

Mariah glanced to her right then, and realized two men walking by witnessed her conversation with the canine.

The shorter of the two had looked away as soon as Mariah looked at him and attempted to continue whatever conversation he was having with the other, but the taller man raised his hand without a word and politely smiled at Mariah.

Mariah looked right through that smile, and could tell he was at least a little bit amused by her antics. Honestly, it wasn't that weird to talk to your pets, was it? Mariah noted he slowed down a bit, making the other become impatient. Though, Mariah copied his action and smiled back, even if it was an embarrassed smile.

"Beautiful dog." He complimented as soon as Cooper gained his attention by running in a circle at least twice. And as if understanding what the man said, he stopped and held his head high.

Mariah shook her head and chuckled. "Thank you." After that, Mariah was left alone with Cooper once again, and proceeded to do nothing but frown at him. It was easy to say, Mariah was unamused.

"Cooper, you may be beautiful, but you don't smell beautiful." She took a step forward and leant down again to grab the shampoo bottle. "Now get over here and let me clean you, for Pete's sake."

* * *

August 24, 2012

The next day, Mariah busied herself with online news stories. No matter how hard she tried, Mariah couldn't stray too far from her job. She was always on her laptop, scrolling through obscure news stories.

Cooper occupied himself by either destroying a toy or trying to fit his large body into Mariah's lap. Usually the latter didn't work, even if he was determined beyond reason.

What was with big dogs and thinking they're lap dogs?

Mariah had been searching for a particular story that involved deaths in the town she lived in. She'd heard about four victims, but never had the chance to look deeper into the case because of her new part time job and forced procrastination. All she knew, was that the deaths weren't natural.

While scrolling through the news feed, Mariah found what she was looking for.

She skimmed through what she knew, and took in the information she didn't. The four victims were found dead, were said to have been killed the night before they were found, and they were reported as animal attacks because of what was left behind. The chest cavities were completely torn open; hearts missing.

This information wasn't all that unfamiliar to Mariah, as she's dealt with werewolves before, but she's heard about this in nearby towns as well. It started about eight months ago, a month just after Mariah moved into her house.

As soon as it made the news, Mariah started researching. The first death was located in a town pretty far from where she was, a good reason for why Mariah should let another hunter take care of it and remain on break. But the next death was in a town closer to her's, and the next was even closer. Then lastly, the four recent deaths were placed in her hometown, as if the monster had been migrating and suddenly decided to stop.

The deaths outside of Mariah's town caused Mariah to just force herself to forget about the entire thing, and spend time doing normal, human things. Like getting a job, and spending time with her dog. Though, when another death appeared on the news, Mariah couldn't take it, and went right back to her computer. But being out of the swing of things of hunting sure took a toll on Mariah's brain, because the first thing that came to mind, was a cougar. The town she lived in was located next to a forest, after all. But after more thinking, animals definitely did not act like that. Especially predators like cougars.

And as far as Mariah knew, the bodies were found out in the open, like the monster had no intention of hiding it.

There were pictures of the victims on the website, and Mariah's eyes raked over them more than once. One picture looked hauntingly familiar. Her interest was both shut down and heightened when she came across the list of the victims. Three of the names were very vague to her, but one stood out. _Piper_ _Watson_. Piper was someone Mariah managed to meet when she moved to the small town, and Piper proved to be someone Mariah wanted to be friends with. The other names, Mariah figured, were people who she'd met in the very beginning, then saw very few times after that.

Mariah inhaled shakily and exhaled slowly.

She opened a new tab and individually searched up the vague names, with the town she lived in. She didn't find much, of course, but all of the victims seemed pretty successful in life. She couldn't find a reason why a monster would want to kill them, as they seemed like good people, and had no connections with each other. Though, each of them had a few nasty habits.

Mariah didn't need to look up Piper; she knew she was an alcoholic.

A few paragraphs later from the news story, Mariah came up with a conclusion. The monster was a Skinwalker. Despite the rarity of coming across one, it was only reasonable, because from Mariah has seen, werewolves typically ate more than just the victims' heart. And the four she was looking at had nothing missing but the heart.

Mariah desperately wanted to take care of this case, since it was right here in her hometown, but she forced the urge away and rested back against the couch with a sigh. Even though she wouldn't be dealing with it, Mariah figured this case wouldn't be easy. The town was small, and dogs were everywhere. Really, it wouldn't be hard to see someone chasing after dogs and touching them with silver coins.

Before the deaths had even started, Mariah tested Cooper with silver, because she'd rather be safe than sorry. Thankfully, Cooper passed.

Mariah was deep in thought when three knocks on her front door caused Mariah to nearly jump out of her skin; both because the noise was sudden and Cooper's loud, protective barks filled her ears before he leapt off the couch with unnecessary force and made a beeline straight for the front door.

Mariah quickly closed the tabs she was looking at and shut her laptop, sitting it on the coffee table before pushing herself up to stand, proceeding to chase after an excited Cooper. "Woah, woah, woah. Cooper stop, it's alright."

She reached down and grabbed his collar with an iron grip and pulled him backwards, the act of opening the door successfully quieting his barks down to eager whimpers. Mariah was instantly greeted with two tall, handsome men in suits, both offering a slight smile. The shorter of the two made nervous eye contact with Cooper when the canine began to strain against Mariah's grip to get a better whiff of them.

"I'm sorry," Mariah started. "I promise he's harmless; all bark and no bite." She said with an apologetic grin, her statement directed more so to the shorter of the two.

Despite her assured tone, the shorter man still looked skeptical and the taller one just looked amused.

Mariah's eyebrows knitted together slightly. Somehow, they looked oddly familiar, but she was sure she's never met the two in her life.

"What can I do for you?"

"Alice Hill?"

Mariah's eyes widened slightly, and took only about a second to remember that Alice Hill was the fake name she gave herself. "Yep, that's me." She replied easily. Mariah was told specifically if she wanted to take an actual break from hunting, she'd need a fake name. There was always a chance someone would recognize Mariah and turn her in to the authorities because of her record in the database.

Really, all hunters had some sort of problem with the authorities, because it wasn't unlikely to be caught in a predicament. In reality, Mariah had been charged with murder because she was found looking at a victim that just died because of a witch's spell. The woman was on the phone with a first responder when she died, and Mariah arrived just a tad too late, and right before the police arrived.

That case was only sort of difficult to get out of.

"I'm Agent Robinson and this is my partner, Agent Brown." The taller man introduced calmly, the FBI agents pulling out their badges in unison. Mariah's eyes quickly scanned the badges, before they were folded back up and stashed into their coat pockets. Mariah almost asked if their first names were Will and Charlie. "We'd like to ask you a few questions about those who were attacked. You knew Piper Watson, correct?"

A multitude of expressions ranging from sadness, confusion and surprise flickered across Mariah's face all at once. She was only a little surprised that they knew she knew Piper, but she assumed someone at the crime scene was close to Piper, and told them. Probably her sister.

"Yeah, I did." Mariah replied quietly, eyes hardening and eyebrows furrowing. Cooper almost instantly noticed her mood change, proceeding to take a step away from the strangers so he could plant himself next to her and lean against her legs in attempt to cheer her up.

But it wasn't long before Mariah opened the door wider and pulled Cooper back with her. "Come in." They obliged, causing Cooper to lean forward slightly, touching his nose to their legs as they passed by. "Please, sit."

Mariah released her grip on her companion's collar, and as soon as the agents sat down, Cooper went to investigate. He was rewarded with pets from Agent Robinson. "I'm sorry," Mariah sighed. "Cooper, leave him alone." She pointed to another room, sitting herself across from the agents on the other couch.

Cooper reluctantly obeyed, and Mariah watched as both her dog and the agent looked solemn after he retreated to the other room to do his own thing.

Agent Brown went right to business as soon as Cooper left. He leaned back and folded his hands in his lap. "Tell us what you know."

Mariah rubbed her cheek and averted her eyes to the floor. "Oh, I don't know. Piper and I became friends a while back, but we didn't hang out all that often because of her busy schedule." She admitted, crossing her ankles. "I knew she volunteered at an animal shelter twenty minutes from here, but I'm sure none of the animals there would have the ability to do whatever happened to Piper." Mariah spilled, her mind suddenly getting filled with memories of small cats, dogs and rabbits. "Actually, I can't think of any animal that would take the heart and leave the rest."

There was a moment of silence after Mariah's words, and Agent Brown's only reply was a sigh. Robinson leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "We're trying to figure that part out."

"Although, I'm a little confused on why the FBI would be apart of something like this." Mariah voiced honestly, tilting her head a fraction and crossing her arms.

"Small town. We're just being thorough." Agent Brown said on impulse, a little too quick for Mariah to completely believe his words. But Mariah made sure to keep her weird and suspicious looks in check and just gave a small nod in agreement and gratitude.

"We suspect it could be a possible virus, causing changes in wild animals' behavior." Robinson went on softly. "Have you seen anything like that around town?"

Mariah suppressed the urge to shrug. Sure, it could be possible for an illness to be going around, but she wanted to tell them exactly what it was and be done with it. Though, if the two were really agents, they'd call her insane.

Mariah inhaled slightly. "Um, I'm not so sure about the wild animals, but I do know there are quite a few stray dogs. But none of them have shown any sort of behavioral changes." She paused. "As well as those that are pets."

The sound of Cooper's heavy footsteps from the other room filled the air, before the sound of a toy getting shaken and ripped apart followed suit. Mariah didn't know whether to smile awkwardly or offer another apologetic grin. And the dog's actions didn't go unnoticed by the agents.

They exchanged glances. "What about your dog?" Brown asked, expression hardening.

A look of concern instantly plastered itself on Marian's features. "Cooper? Oh, no. No, he's still the same." Mariah answered quickly; too quick for her own liking.

At the sound of his name, Cooper came trotting into the room and hopped easily up and onto the couch, plopping himself down carelessly on top of Mariah's legs. His head rested on the arm rest, and he relaxed into his position with a sigh. Mariah quickly rolled her eyes and exhaled silently.

"Besides the fact he's a bit of an escape artist and disappears for hours at a time, he's your typical dog." Mariah went on after a moment, running her hand from the top of Cooper's head and down his back gently. She looked up, noting how tense Agent Brown looked. She supposed he didn't like dogs.

"Hours at a time?" The agents said in unison.

She nodded slowly, patting Cooper's back. "Yeah. The first time scared the hell out of me, since he literally disappeared for five hours. The next few times weren't as long, but still nerve wracking." She recalled, eyes narrowed. "Yet, he always returned. Now it's a bad habit, and I can't break it. He's gotten better, though. Now he's only gone for about an hour. I think it has something to do with his past."

The agents remained silent for a moment, and Mariah felt her heart speed up with their eyes on her. "Alice," Brown started, causing Mariah's eyes to quickly slide over to him. "Has Cooper ever shown the _slightest_ amount of aggression. To anyone?"

Mariah frowned. "No."

"Has he ever bitten you?"

"Never."

"Has he ever returned home and you noticed something different about him?"

Before Mariah could deny the question yet again, she paused and shut her parted mouth. She eyed them suspiciously, causing them to look at her with concerned expressions. "You're not FBI agents, are you?" She asked slowly, the corners of her lips turning upward slightly.

The exchange of worried glances was all Mariah needed. "Ma'am, we're just trying-"

"It's a Skinwalker," Mariah outed, the agents looking completely shocked. "But you already knew that, didn't you?" Mariah said with a small grin.

"You're a hunter?" Robinson asked quietly.

"Was taught by a friend of mine at the age of ten." She replied firmly. "What about you?"

"Born and raised." Brown replied, a dark look in his eyes.

Mariah nodded sympathetically and grabbed Cooper's scruff gently. "I tested him with silver. He's good."

"Do you have any idea who it could be?"

"Maybe," Mariah started slowly. "There's a woman not far from here who ones own dog: a Husky named Maggie. The woman is never really around, and as far as I know, she's not very popular in town." She went on. "I'm pretty sure I've heard two people talking, then barking and just the woman speaking. I'm just going out on a limb, I haven't done much about this case."

"Could you give us directions?" Robinson asked.

"'Course. Go right for two blocks, then turn left at Hudson street. Her house is the second one on the left after you turn," Mariah paused and grinned. "It won't be hard to miss, it's a horrid shade of blue."

"Could you walk with us?"

Mariah's eyebrows raised at the question, but she smiled. "If you want me to."

* * *

"How long have you lived here?"

The agents, well, actually just guys now- Mariah didn't know what to call them at this point.

Hunters.

The hunters were proving to be actually pretty interesting, even though they didn't really reveal very much about their life. Mariah could tell they were tight knit just by the way they spoke.

At this point of meeting new people, Mariah would feel like she was being scrutinized. Especially since Cooper's tugging caused Mariah to be two steps ahead of the boys, and could practically feel their eyes staring at the back of her head every time she spoke. Unless, she turned to look at them. When she did, they'd turn away so they'd be looking straight ahead. Weird.

It also didn't help because they were both much taller than her, and Mariah would be quite literal if she said she had to look up to them.

Speaking of which, Mariah felt uncomfortably short while walking next to them. The shorter man was probably a little bit over six feet, while the other was easily 6'4".

Mariah stood at a solid 5'5".

She wouldn't say she was really short, but Mariah would constantly be teased about her height at family events, especially since she was shorter than her younger sister. This, she didn't care about. But when hunters started teasing her, Mariah wouldn't have it.

The fact that the two hunters were pretty much strangers, something about them caused Mariah to feel relaxed. Which should be making alarms go off in her head, but it didn't. Being able to speak freely about their job was sort of relieving.

"Not that long," Mariah answered. "About nine months now, I think." She adjusted her grip on Cooper's leash. "I wanted to take a short break from hunting, and gave myself a temporary name." Mariah elaborated, eyes sliding to the left just in time to see a dog run and jump in the air to catch a frisbee. "It was about a month after I moved in when I adopted Cooper." By the end of her sentence, she felt tension behind her.

"Temporary name?" The shorter of the two asked after a moment.

"Yeah," Mariah looked back at him. "My real name is Mariah Daniels." She offered a polite smile.

"Dean Winchester," he said almost instantaneously. "That's my brother, Sam."

Mariah looked over her shoulder to look at Sam and grinned, who just mirrored her expression.

"Winchesters," she looked back ahead. "It's nice to finally meet you. I've heard lots."

Mariah could almost hear Dean shrug behind her.

"Tell me about Cooper." Sam said, sounding genuinely interested in the crazy dog.

Mariah raised her eyebrows as Cooper looked back and seemed to grin at Sam. "Cooper is a piece of work. I rescued him when he was about...two years old?"

"Rescued?"

"Yeah." Mariah nodded slowly. "From what I was told, he was used for dog fights. The shelter I got him from hemmed and hawed when I asked about his background, so I decided to not press any more than I already was." She explained. "Despite that, though, he's pretty friendly to whoever he comes across, even dogs. And he has one hell of a pain tolerance." Mariah sounded exasperated. Usually dogs with high pain tolerances weren't one the most helpful things. "He once came home with a fractured leg and I didn't know about it until the next day."

Mariah felt tension build behind her again, but she dismissed it.

They came up on the woman's house, and Mariah gently pulled against Cooper's leash to signal him to stop. "Well, here we are. I wish you luck."

"Luck?" Dean asked, a concerned expression plastered on his face.

Mariah smiled slightly. "She doesn't answer the door much."

Mariah watched as they made their way up the stairs, and continued on her walk once they reached the door. The muffled noise of Maggie barking reached Mariah's ears, but the sound of a door opening never did. Only about a minute later, she looked back over her shoulder and saw Sam and Dean's figures heading back down the stairs.

She could just hear Dean's irritated voice saying something along the lines of, "Well, that was useless."

* * *

August 25, 2012

 _It was nearing ten o'clock at night._

 _Dean looked around with narrowed eyes as Sam leaned over and pulled out the tool that would allow him to pick the lock to the door of the woman's house._

 _They had seen the dog peer out the window, duck down, and a human silhouette replaced the dog's._

 _It was quiet inside, until the sound of glass breaking and the sound of snarling abruptly started._

 _Sam worked quicker, and shoved the door open and they quietly entered the house._

 _Movement upstairs caught their attention, and soon, the brothers were scaling the stairs two at a time._

 _They shoved their way through the door to the woman's bedroom, and were greeted with her heartless corpse._

 _Glass from the broken window near the woman's bed littered the floor, and Maggie was guarding her body with a defensive stance and threatening snarls._

 _Maggie looked beaten up, as if the woman had tried to fight back, but there wasn't necessarily a lot of blood on Maggie's muzzle. It was hard to see in the dark room._

 _Either way, it didn't stop Dean from pulling the trigger when Maggie lunged at him._

* * *

Mariah was finishing up preparing for bed by forcing her dark hair into a messy bun a little rougher than necessary. Her attempts didn't work, and she ended up yanking the hair tie out along with a few strands of hair, and decided to just leave her thick hair down.

She was irritated, because Cooper had left again. And she was one hundred percent sure the dog door that led into the backyard was locked. Honestly, this whole thing was getting out of hand.

Rustling downstairs made her stop her actions. Was he back?

"Cooper?"

Shit, he better not be getting into those crackers she left out.

She was out the door and into the hallway in only a moment, moving quickly downstairs and using the railing to throw herself towards the kitchen with one hand. She slowed to a stop, frowning at what she saw. The crackers were untouched, but the dog door was swinging, as if someone entered, then left.

Had Cooper come home, then left again? Mariah bit her lip and let out a frustrated sigh.

She needed to deal with this problem.

* * *

"Something's not right."

"What makes you say that?"

"The glass in the woman's room was broken as if someone entered from the outside, and Maggie didn't necessarily look like she was the one that killed her owner."

"So you're saying Maggie was a normal dog?"

"It's a possibility. Skinwalkers don't really stay near those they killed."

"...damnit. Now what?"

"Back to the drawing board."

"I think it's Mariah's dog."

"Cooper? She told us specifically she had already tested him with silver."

"Leaving for hours at a time? For all we know, the dog was out of the house the time of the victims' deaths."

"Dean,"

"What?"

"Look."

A German Shepherd laid casually in the spotlight of a streetlamp on the sidewalk, chewing away at something tucked firmly in it's paws.

"Tell me that doesn't look like Cooper."

There was a short pause, and the dog's ears shifted towards them, and it's head raised almost in a panicked manner.

"Hey, hey!"

Dean's shouting startled the dog to the point it suddenly jumped to all fours and turned on a dime, running the opposite direction from them.

Sam and Dean jogged over to the dog's previous resting spot, and grimaced at the half-eaten heart that bleeding out on the sidewalk.

"We need to go."

* * *

The whole complication with Cooper entering and exiting caused Mariah to become restless, and laying in bed attempting to force herself to fall asleep wasn't working in her favor.

She decided to just sit on the couch in the dark, and wait for Cooper's return. It wasn't like she had anything to do the next day, anyway.

Mariah was pretty much nodding off to sleep when a loud noise jolted her awake, just before Cooper's body just about slammed into Mariah's. She would have screamed if the wind hadn't been knocked out of her. When she recomposed herself, her arms circled around Cooper's body. "Cooper? What's wrong?" She asked, as if she expected him to answer.

Noise that sounded like a doorknob forcefully trying to be turned right and left caused Mariah to tense up and look at her backdoor. Was someone after Cooper? She slid him off her lap and rounded the couch, making a beeline for the door. She unlocked it before the would-be intruder could, and wrenched the door open with a glare.

But her face fell when she was greeted by Sam's surprised expression.

"Sam?" She questioned, her tone both confused and angered.

"Mariah-" Before he could finish, the sound of her front door being forced open caused Mariah to whip around, the banging being followed by Cooper's defensive barking.

Mariah quickly headed back to the living room without another word to Sam, and pretty much slid to a stop when her eyes landed on Dean's gun, that was pointing directly at Cooper. She held one hand up, subconsciously recognizing the sound of Sam's footsteps coming up behind her. "Dean, stop!" Mariah's voice gave away that she was angry. "I told you, he's a _normal_ dog!"

"And I'm a woman," Dean hissed back, casual enough to lead Mariah to assume he had said it before in a different situation. But it also made Mariah's face morph into a somewhat offended expressions. "What did you say yesterday?" Dean went on. _"High pain tolerance? Disappearing for hours at a time?"_

Mariah couldn't argue, because that was exactly what she said. She chose to remain silent, but continued to glare daggers at the older Winchester.

"Did you even put two and two together that you got your dog eight months ago, when the deaths first started?" He pressed, gesturing at Cooper with his gun; Mariah subtly flinched and Cooper remained still. "Also, didn't you say he used to disappeared for almost five hours? The town the first death was placed in is two hours from here."

Mariah stayed silent, but from the way her face hardened and the way her eyes averted to anywhere but him, Dean could tell the gears in her head were turning.

"Mariah," Sam quietly began, inching just a centimeter closer. He sounded cautious, and Mariah firmly believed he should be. He could practically see anger, confusion and hurt radiating off her in waves.

Mariah whipped around. "What?" She hissed, her hair swinging around to hit her in the face. She was sure if Sam were any closer, her hair would have hit him in the face, too.

"We saw Cooper at the park right before he came back to your house." He started slowly, watching Mariah's distrusting expression carefully. His stance was tense, as if he was waiting for Mariah to lash out at him any second.

But really, Mariah didn't care too much about Sam; he wasn't the one pointing a pistol at her dog.

"He was…eating…" Sam paused, and Mariah peered at him curiously. Her hands, which were still held out in front of her, lowered marginally.

"Eating…what?"

"Someone's heart." Dean suddenly blurted, figuring Sam wouldn't have the heart to tell Mariah. Mariah turned to look at him, and Dean couldn't tell whether she was offended or disgusted. Either one could have been an appropriate reaction.

Mariah's eyes rested only a moment on Dean's face, before they went lower and landed on his hands, which were tightly gripping his gun. Slowly, Mariah's angry and confused expressions faltered into a dejected one.

Cooper was facing away from her, staring straight into Dean's gun with a tense stance; so tense that his legs appeared to be shaking if Mariah looked hard enough. She was surprised he hadn't attacked yet, if what they really said was true. He just…stood there. There would be occasional growl coming from him if Dean shifted, but that was it.

Only the light from outside street lights and the small lamp above her stove was the only light that was provided, and Mariah was having a hard time trying to figure out if the brothers' statement was true.

Still, Mariah persisted.

Mariah shook her head slowly, hands lowering all the way down so they hung at her sides. "No. No, no, no I don't believe you." Her voice was quiet; strained. "There are lots of German Shepherds in this town, I'm sure you're both mistaken." She flashed a small grin, but everyone in the room knew it was forced.

"Oh, I know it's him, sweetheart." Dean answered before Sam could, and Mariah's suspicious and unforgiving expression came back. "Only one German Shepherd came running back to this house with its tail tucked."

Mariah shook her head again. "No…" This time her voice was even quieter than before, and her eyes began to feel watery.

It was hard to miss that the older Winchester in the room was getting irritated with Mariah's unwillingness to accept the truth, and just plain annoyed at the fact he'd been pointing a gun at the defiant dog for the past…five minutes?

"Don't believe me?" He inquired, slowly detaching one had from his gun and reaching behind him. Mariah became tense again, and watched as Dean pulled out a small, silver knife. Mariah saw Cooper visibly become uncomfortable, and prepare to snap at Dean's hand when he attempted to touch him. Dean leaned back before his hand was bitten, and resulted to 'plan B'. "Catch."

Mariah focused on Dean, and readied her hands. Dean tossed the knife, and she caught it easily by the handle. She realized that there would be no way in hell Dean could have been bribed to just walk around Cooper. Mariah didn't move to use the knife.

"Touch him."

"Dean-"

"Do it."

The forceful tone Dean had made Mariah develop the urge to just use the knife on him. But of course, don't bring a knife to a gunfight.

Instead of following through with Dean's instructions right away, she slowly turned to look back at Sam. She saw his solemn expression hadn't changed, but he didn't make eye contact with her. Actually, he made eye contact with everything in the room but her. She saw him swallow nervously, as if he was afraid to just be within a ten foot vicinity of her.

He should be; who knew if Mariah was suddenly going to go for his neck.

But Mariah sighed, and looked back ahead. She gripped the knife tighter, and sank down into a crouch. "Cooper," she called softly, and grimaced when she saw him flinch. "Cooper, come here." She tried again, and this time she succeeded. She couldn't see it, but she could definitely smell it. Blood. She almost jerked back just from that, and Cooper had a look of innocent confusion.

How no blood had gotten on Mariah's yellow shirt or her white and gray joggers was beyond her.

Quickly, she reached forward and pressed one of the flat sides of the knife against one of Cooper's most sensitive parts; his nose. She retracted her hand as quick as she had when she reached forward as soon as his nose began to sizzle and burn. Cooper growled, whimpered and jerked backwards because of it, but made no move to snap at Mariah for what she did.

Mariah jerked back as well, throwing the knife off to the side haphazardly when she saw the new burn Cooper was sporting.

She froze; a _lot_ of things made sense now.

Apparently Cooper's shoulder wasn't very sensitive.

She felt tears form in her eyes again and stood, stumbling backwards and away from Cooper. She went farther than she intended, and ended up backing into Sam. His tense figure seemed to loosen, and his arms automatically encircled Mariah's smaller form in a loose grip. Mariah didn't move to break away, but gripped his forearms with strength that was produced mainly from her emotions.

She leaned forward slightly, her knees almost buckling under her. "Wait, wait! Don't shoot him, please!" She begged, her voice breaking. As she spoke, her grip increased and her nails dug into Sam's skin through the fabric of his jacket.

"I don't have a choice," Dean muttered darkly, shifting his posture slightly. Cooper turned in place to face his opponent and slid into a threatening pose. Dean's eyes widened slightly, but he didn't falter. "I'm not making the same mistake twice."

Mariah disregarded whatever Dean uttered, because she didn't give a shit about what he had to say. "He can change!" She tried to persuade him; but she could tell her efforts weren't working in her favor.

"Skinwalkers live off people, he'll never change!" Dean hissed, gesturing at Cooper again with his gun. Cooper reacted differently this time; he leaned back slightly and crouched just a little lower. "I'm sorry," Dean said quietly, completely missing Cooper's body language.

Mariah knew exactly what Cooper was doing; he was preparing to attack.

Mariah watched with wide eyes as Dean aimed his gun more accurately, instantly feeling her anxiety build up and cause her to begin hyperventilating. She backed up more into Sam, but didn't get far. Sam did them the favor of turning them both away, and Mariah struggled minimally.

Mariah shut her eyes and waited for the familiar sound of a gunshot, but the sound of someone tumbling and then a gunshot hitting the floorboards threw her off. That was when Mariah detached herself from Sam and saw Cooper getting hit in the head by Dean's gun and proceeded to be thrown off of Dean, who had been knocked on his back.

Sam moved forward, and Mariah stayed frozen, but before the younger Winchester could have done anything to help the older, Cooper lunged again, jaws wide. Dean rolled over and pulled the trigger.

The bullet went through Cooper's throat and out the back of his head.

The sight of Cooper dropping like cement caused Mariah's hands to fly to her mouth and promptly scream into them, her hands barely muffling the ear-splitting noise. She dropped to her knees, the unforgiving, hard floor causing pain to explode in her kneecaps. But the pain was minimal, and couldn't compare to how she felt now. Tears were streaming from her eyes.

Dean's face flashed with guilt when he looked between Mariah and the dead man beside him, but Mariah only looked up at Sam, who resumed his position beside her, crouched, and wrapped his arms around her.

Mariah didn't return the embrace, but leaned into it.

* * *

August 26, 2012

The next day, the brothers came back for a revisit.

It was Sam's idea, and Dean hesitantly agreed to participate.

When they reached her house, their steps seemed to become hesitant as they made their way up her porch stairs. Then, they promptly stood outside her door for approximately five minutes, bickering about whether or not they should follow through with their little plan. The Winchesters spoke quietly, however, because Mariah sat at her kitchen table without a clue in the world.

They did end up knocking, but the knock sounded unrhythmic. Doubtful.

What they assumed would happened next, would be Mariah opening the door, telling them both to fuck off, and shoo them away before either of them could say one word. Sam and Dean were both prepared for that, but they weren't prepared when she opened the door, gave them a tired smile, and invited them in.

Sam and Dean stood in the doorway for a few seconds, frozen from surprise, before accepting the invitation and walked in.

The house looked normal, clean even. It was as if everything from last night never happened.

Mariah saw their observant expressions, and revealed she buried Cooper in a graveyard not far from her house. Last night, the boys had offered to take care of Cooper after she had calmed down, but she wasn't having it, and wanted them _out_.

The brothers felt intrusive and awkward, but Mariah was oddly relaxed. She wore large clothing and held a warm mug of tea, and looked content. But if you were to look a little closer, her eyes were cold and held a faraway look.

Sam had nervously asked how she was doing, and Mariah just shrugged, blinked slowly, and replied with a simple, _"I'm fine, actually."_

She ended up explaining when she realized how weird it must seem, crying over the death of a Skinwalker that caused the death of her friend. Sam and Dean just reassured her the best they could, but Mariah knew they thought it was weird just as much as she did.

After they worked together to break the awkward wall between them, they talked for what seemed about an hour about whatever topic came to mind. Most things they talked about was hunting, or places they've gone that seemed sketchy even to them.

When it came time that they had to leave, Mariah followed them out to the car, and stopped them before they left.

"I want to thank you, both." She started quietly, eyes trained on the ground while hugging herself.

"For killing your dog?" Dean replied obliviously, causing Sam to elbow him in the ribs none-too-gently. A curse followed suit.

Mariah looked up at that, a sour expression planted on her face. "No, _asshat_." She hissed, then sighed. "I want to thank you for opening my eyes. I've become a better hunter just by this experience because I now know to look for even minute details." She explained.

"You're welcome." The brothers replied in unison.

"I also want to thank you, Sam, especially." Mariah went on, shifting her weight to one side. Dean almost looked offended.

Sam looked confused. "Why?"

Mariah grinned. "For not being a total asshole."

Sam instantly grinned at that. "Any time."

"We're leaving." Dean grumbled, turning around.

Mariah watched them drive off, her arms still tightly hugging herself. When their car was out of sight, she reluctantly turned around, and walked back and up the steps to her house. When she entered, it was then she noticed how empty her house really was.

* * *

 ** _What didya think?_**

 ** _\- Pastel_**


	2. Back in the Ring

**_I've done lots of work with the plotline, and I realize it'll take some 'building up' for it to really become a good plotline. I'll make it as interesting as I can; I'm actually excited for this story._**

 _ **Thank you so much for the review, too!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs.**_

* * *

 _ **Life With You**_

 _ **Chapter Two: Back in the Ring**_

September 7, 2012

Mariah made the stupid mistake of acting completely independant and strictly business when around other hunters. She didn't realize her behavior would follow her and leave a trail of assumptions.

She was always expected to act tough and fearless, and dive head first into any situation without hesitation.

But Mariah could never hide the fact there will always be a time when the dam breaks, and everything floods out.

Which was exactly why Mariah preferred working alone. The pressure of feeling like she needed to live up to standards was overwhelming, and letting someone down was something that would not go well on Mariah's part. It would eat at her until there was nothing left.

People just assumed Mariah Daniels was some emotionless killer, which is exactly what she didn't want to be. And now, her goal was to change that aspect about herself.

Perhaps more collaborative hunts would help.

Until recently, Mariah never once cried of the death of a monster, even when she made a mistake that could have been easily avoided if she just listened. There had only been a few times Mariah let herself shed a couple tears when she couldn't save an innocent life. Or when she made a mistake that costed the life of another.

And it only made whatever situation worse, when someone said, _"You can't save everybody, Mariah."_

Those words never helped anyone.

If someone asked, Mariah would be completely unsure on how to describe her feelings about the now-solved-problem revolving around Cooper. If anything, Mariah knew for a fact she was not being strong about this, at all. A mere thought of Cooper doing something as simple as running around in the house made Mariah nearly break down into a sobbing mess.

From the start, Mariah didn't want to believe that her best friend was a monster, but as soon as she touched him with the knife, Mariah knew what had to be done. No matter how many times she'd deny it, and how many times she'd try and convince Dean that Cooper could change, everyone in that room knew what the right decision was.

And that was to shoot Cooper.

Mariah completely blamed herself for being oblivious, because when she first tested Cooper, she had touched his shoulder with the silver knife. She never put together that shifting weight was a sign of discomfort. Perhaps she should have just touched his nose in the first place. And maybe, just _maybe_ , she shouldn't have touched his shoulder that had nerve damage because of a dog fight.

Yet, she knew how things worked. How she never saw a burning sensation was beyond her.

But, it was probably better that way, anyway. There was a high possibility Cooper would've snapped sooner or later, and would either kill Mariah or turn her into one of them. It wasn't rocket science, but for some reason, it sure felt like it to Mariah.

She wanted there to be a possibility where Cooper survived and could have changed.

Mariah blinked and rubbed her temples. Her head was reeling, and trying to force herself to stay focused on the case she was working didn't help with the ache.

She was sitting in a small coffee shop that she legitimately just waltz into; she didn't even look to see what the shop was called. (Mariah noticed she does this often, and knows she needs to work on the habit). It was quite a ways from her house, and she was researching a case mainly to keep her mind off Cooper, even if it wasn't particularly helping.

She had gotten back into hunting because she realized she had nothing to go back home to anymore, and couldn't force herself to sit at home and wait for the next day to arrive.

Not when her house now held a bad memory, and felt completely empty.

Mariah's sudden traveling didn't go unnoticed, since her mother usually visits her from time to time. When she figured out she hadn't been in town for a while, she called. She had asked why she decided to start traveling again, and Mariah begrudgingly used Cooper's death as an excuse.

Before she was able to finish her sentence, her mother was spilling out all sorts of comforting words and apologies. Mariah just told her it was an accident waiting to happen. With his weekly escapes, he was more than likely to be hit by a car.

But, everything happens for a reason, right?

Mariah groaned.

So far, she had put together that she was hunting an Arachne. She figured she was hunting a witch at first, but with more information, she realized she wasn't hunting a witch at all.

She hadn't run into many of these particular monsters, actually, she has only run into one in her entire time of hunting, but she knew how to take them out.

Three teenagers, two boys and one girl, had gone to investigate a house three days ago that had been reported to be consistently infested with all sorts spiders, excluding any sort of abnormally large spider, and was abandoned a while back because of it.

The general idea of checking out a house that had been said to be infested with spiders was absolutely insane on Mariah's terms.

The _normal_ possible reason for the infestation was because the house was located somewhat near a lake, but even then, spiders didn't usually infest houses.

Actually, Mariah had never heard of a spider infested house.

And Mariah was about 99.9 percent sure Arachne couldn't control spiders.

All three teenagers were attacked, but only the girl managed to make it out.

Mariah read more about the house's past, and found that it was abandoned back in the 1890's. She wasn't sure about Arachne lifespan, but there was a possibility it was the same one. Small amounts of disappearances would happen when people wandered too close to the house, pretty much giving away its location.

Mariah didn't complain about that.

In reality, Mariah had no idea why people were being taken by the Arachne; she was sure the monsters didn't eat people. There was so much more to figure out.

Mariah managed to question the girl, but she was still pretty shaken up and didn't reveal much. (She never figured out the girl's name, which Mariah regretted.) When Mariah asked how the girl managed to escape, she didn't know herself. Fortunately for Mariah, she did described her attacker as what looked like a man, but seemed to have multiple eyes.

Out of all the information Mariah received, she made sense of it the best she could, and dug deeper about the case.

 _"Is that Mariah?"_

At the sound of her name, a strange wave of anxiety from only God knows where washed over Mariah.

She knitted her eyebrows together while scanning her surroundings through her eyelashes, her head remaining tilted down at her notes. She didn't think much of it, other than the fact it was a male voice but didn't sound familiar, and the fact there were more than a million Mariahs' in the world.

 _"Only one way to find out."_

That sounded familiar, for some reason.

 _"Don't-"_

"Mariah?"

When Mariah's head raised, she pretty much gave away she was shamelessly eavesdropping on a quietly spoken conversation. But, she might as well look for whoever said her name, just in case they were actually talking to her.

She scanned the café, before her name was called again, a little louder than the quiet tone from before, and her head turned left. She spotted the two who were trying to capture her attention sitting only about a few feet from her, in a booth. Mariah sighed.

Sam and Dean.

Usually those two didn't bear good news.

"Winchesters," Mariah greeted with a tight smile, her voice hiding something behind the word. She leaned her elbows on the table and grabbed her arms. She shifted her gaze between them, before her eyes finally landed on a stiff-looking Dean. "Ah, Dean. I haven't seen you since you shot my dog." Her fake smile seemed to widen as she spoke, and just played along with her false happy tone.

Dean figured that Mariah was going to bring that up, and already looked about one-hundred percent done with her. "You're not going to let that go, are you?"

Mariah narrowed her eyes at his ignorant response and gave a slight shake of her head. "Not unless you apologize."

"Apologize?" The look of disbelief Dean offered Mariah caused her to questioned why she decided to engage in a conversation with him in the first place; honestly, she probably should have just spoken to the younger of the two.

When she glanced at Sam because of Dean's inability to understand common sense, Sam just looked like he was feeling second-hand embarrassment or disappointment. It could have been a combination of the two.

At the sight of Mariah's growing frown, however, Sam piped up and changed the subject. "What're you doing all the way out here?"

Mariah sighed again and looked at her notes. "Well, after the whole incident, I decided to get back into hunting." She admitted, tapping the end of her pen against her notepad. "Especially since almost everyone in the neighborhood would consistently check on me because the sound of a gunshot came from my house." Mariah alluded, possibly hinting at the fact the brothers pretty much wrecked her normal life.

Sam looked down at what appeared to be his own notes, or a journal. "That's to be expected." Sam murmured, almost too quiet that Mariah nearly missed it. His fingers tapped against the trackpad of his laptop distractedly.

Mariah took a quick pause and gave Sam an observant look. She was confused on what he meant by that, but dismissed it. She continued on before Dean could say anything smart about eyeing his brother.

"And I couldn't really stand the fact the woman who owned the house I sent you both to was found dead with her dog lying right next to her, with a bullet in her head." Mariah spoke as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, but Sam and Dean automatically knew it was fake. Mariah's eyes narrowed. "You shot Maggie?" She asked, her voice dark with accusation.

Guilt flashed across their faces.

"Mariah," Dean began, looking as if he was preparing to explain in MLA format why he was sticking his hand in the cookie jar after he was told specifically not to.

But Mariah cut him off before he could continue.

"Don't try to explain it, Dean. It'll just make your case worse." Mariah said quietly, sounding somewhat disappointed. She removed her hands from her arms and moved to crack her knuckles, eyes averting away from the brothers and towards the door to the café.

The exit looked pretty inviting.

Desperate to rid the cloud of sadness that had been trailing Mariah for a while now, she turned back to Sam and Dean and gave a slight smile. "Other than that, I have case." Mariah went on, tone sounding much more cheerful despite previous topics.

"Arachne?" Sam guessed.

Mariah nodded. After a moment of hesitation, she stood, grabbed her notes, coffee cup and made her way over to their booth. "Scoot." She said curtly, and Sam did as he was told. Mariah lowered herself down into the seat, and went right into the case. "I'm assuming you already knew that three teenagers decided to take a trip to this house that was infested with spiders and all that crap, and that the only teen that came back was the girl?"

They nodded.

"And I'm assuming you know the main reason it became abandoned was because the spiders kept coming back, and people didn't like that very much, of course."

Both Sam and Dean could tell right off the bat Mariah was excited to be hunting again just by the way she spoke, and the way her eyes sparkled with something similar to mischief mixed with how a kid would look at a brand new toy in the toys section of a store. Honestly, it was always oddly pleasing to watch someone talk about what they enjoyed.

At least, Sam thought it was.

"Seems like a reasonable...reason to abandon a house." Dean commented absently, gazing upward as a waitress appeared and placed a plate of apple pie in front of him. Mariah could tell that Dean's mood just got about ten times better.

"Uh-huh." Still, Mariah raised a brow. "Anyway, one of the boys was apparently a spider freak and suggested the whole idea in the first place. The other two just went for the hell of it." Mariah flipped back and forth through her notes, then looked up. "Oh, and I'm just going over what the girl said. You were able to speak to her, right?"

Dean shook his head, but Sam spoke before he could. Not that he could in the first place, since his mouth was stuffed with apple pie. "No. Her parents told us to leave before we even finished introducing ourselves."

Dean made a noise of agreement after he swallowed. "She told us someone else already came by and didn't want to go through it again."

"Ah, I beat you," Mariah snickered.

Dean looked up. "What?"

"What?" Mariah put on an oblivious expression, then continued with the case before she lost it. She almost did when she took a quick look at Sam, who seemed to be over her competitiveness. But, Mariah didn't miss his small smile.

Dean didn't either, and looked completely lost.

"Moving on. In the newspaper, there was no address to the house. Hell, they barely mentioned it. The girl tried to describe where she thought she was, but I can't really relay them as directions." Mariah almost sounded apologetic. "She did say that the house was pretty much filled to the brim with large spiderwebs, most hanging from the ceiling and attaching to the floor."

Dean made a weird expression. "Gross."

Mariah's nose scrunched slightly at Dean. Honestly, she was questioning if she was talking to the same person that burst into her house two weeks ago. She looked back at Sam as if searching for the answer to her unspoken question, but Sam just shrugged.

Honestly, her impressions of them weren't very solid, as Mariah believed they still had plenty of time to show their true colors. But as of now, Dean was proving to be some sort of mellow idiot when not on the job while Sam acted the same on and off cases, which wasn't a bad thing.

"Yeah." She said slowly. "Even better, she told me she thought she saw someone insideone of the webs. That was right before she was attacked."

That caught their attention.

"Despite what the girl told you, do you have an idea where it is?" Sam asked, folding his hands on the table after shutting his laptop.

Mariah looked over at him and nodded. "It was very vague, though. So, if I'm wrong, don't blame it on me."

The sound of Dean's fork clinging against his empty plate after he dropped it pulled Mariah's attention away from his brother. "What did she say?"

"She said she saw a lake somewhat in the distance while she was running, and then said she made it to a road shortly after. When I asked, she told me the road sign she saw."

Dean looked like he was in pain by the end of her sentence. "Please don't tell me it said, _road work ahead_."

Mariah grinned. "That's exactly what it said. After a bit of digging, I found out the road near Pibel Lake is getting repaved."

"Well, let's get this show on the road."

Mariah was thrilled to start hunting again, and was about to get up out of her seat when her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her back pocket and checked the notification. "Ah, crap." She breathed out.

"What?"

"What is it?"

"Amber alert." Mariah looked up. "Someone just reported another teenage girl. Not sure if it's the same place, but we should hurry."

* * *

The forest itself was pretty tedious; the trio stayed quiet nearly the entire time, and the lack of conversation gave Mariah the ability to hear everything around her. From the birds that flew over head, to the sound of their own footsteps. The noises weren't abnormal, but felt weird.

Everything gave off a weird vibe, as if something was watching them. Watching Mariah. She supposed it was just nerves; the ones hunters got every time before they engaged in the 'action part' of the hunt.

But maybe it was just Mariah.

They were walking in a single file line, Dean, Mariah and Sam in that order. It gave Mariah the weird advantage of glaring at the back of Dean's head just because she still couldn't look at him without distrust in her eyes. But even then, it was just something to do, since they've been walking for how long?

Sam could obviously tell Mariah was glaring up at Dean; she physically tilted her head up and her figure stiffened. He didn't mention it though, Dean seemed to know he was being stared at. Every now and then, he'd take a weird step.

Getting bored of her petty game, Mariah began to think. She figured the only thing bad about this case, was that she wasn't alone.

In all honesty, Mariah liked working alone just because she didn't have to worry about the safety of others. If spoken aloud, it sounded selfish. But Mariah would be unable to forgive herself if someone got hurt whilst hunting with her.

She still hasn't forgiven herself because of an incident that happened about a year ago, even if the person who got hurt was completely fine now, minus the hearing issue.

It was taking them a while to reach the large cabin, but Mariah could already feel her nerves slowly morphing into excitement.

Mariah viewed hunting as a learning experience, and to meet new people. As long as strangers proved to be good people, Mariah loved company. She was definitely someone who was _"ask questions first and shoot later"_ , contrary to popular belief.

About ten minutes into walking through the dense foliage, Dean reached up and gingerly pushed a thin, low-hanging yet outstretched branch of a bush out of his way so he wouldn't have to walk into it. But as soon as it no longer concerned him, he dropped his hand back down to his side.

Mariah was looking down whilst deep in thought, and didn't realize until after the branch swung back and whacked her across the face that she realized what Dean did.

Mariah was instantly aggravated. "Dean, what the hell?" She hissed, shoving the branch out of her face with an unnecessary amount of force. But Dean just waved his hand at her. Or, that's at least what Mariah saw through squinted eyes before she whipped around at what sounded like a quiet laugh coming from Sam.

"...sorry."

"Keep it down."

Mariah looked forward again and glared at Dean. She honestly wasn't even that loud, hell, Dean was louder than he when he told her to stay quiet. _Jerk_.

When Mariah saw Dean continue walking, she followed suit.

Only a moment after the minor disaster, Mariah found herself partly annoyed despite her ever growing excitement about the hunt. Annoyed because Dean was taking charge of the case and was acting like the tough asshole again from before, and was seeming to walk a lot faster than Mariah could manage.

Or he could have been walking normally, and Mariah just couldn't keep up.

But she also was slightly amused, because it didn't get past her that Sam was purposely taking shorter strides to stay in pace with Mariah after he moved to walk beside her when the foliage thinned out.

Yet, she didn't mind. Preferring to work alone didn't mean she disliked company altogether.

Another five minutes of silence later, Sam finally piped up. "How are you, Mariah?" The question was quietly asked, but it caught Mariah completely off guard. She had to process his words first before she could even respond in a remotely correct manner.

She blinked up at him, and saw that he was facing forward, but had the slightest of smiles on his face. Mariah gave him an unsure look, but grinned anyway. "What kind of question is that?" She asked instead, grabbing the straps of her backpack.

"Just wondering." Sam answered easily.

Mariah took a small pause, her cheeky grin turning into a smile. Questions like that could either reveal too much or too little, yet it gave Mariah some sort of impression that he cared about her wellbeing. Even if it was the _"you're still a stranger to me but I wouldn't trip you if something is chasing us"_ impression. Honestly, Sam was proving to be more of a pleasure to talk to than his counterpart.

Sensing he was being stared at, Sam looked over and down at Mariah, giving a slightly embarrassed grin. "What?" Mariah definitely didn't miss the small blush on his face.

Before Mariah could answer, Dean turned around, causing the two to stop in their tracks. He gave them both a curious look before his serious expression came back. "I can see the cabin. Stay alert." He warned quietly, then turned again and stalked through the forest.

Mariah saw Sam's expression harden before he followed after Dean. But Mariah stopped him before he got too far, so that it didn't become an awkward amount of space between them. "Sam," she started lowly.

He stopped and turned half way, expression softening. "Hm?"

"I'm good."

Soon enough, the cabin came into full view, and the forest thinned out almost completely, creating somewhat of a ring around the cabin. Mariah could see the lake just between the trees; it wasn't too far away.

When Mariah look back at the house, she grimaced. It looked just about as any old, abandoned house would; dull, chipping, and really uninviting. The house itself seemed to sway ever so slightly when the wind blew, causing it to creak under its own weight.

After a moment of silently analyzing the house, Mariah agreed with herself about the plan she came up with.

They would need bait as a distraction, so it would be easier to get the girl and anybody else who hadn't been infected out of the house. It seemed only reasonable; the Aranche would be too busy with the bait to realize what was going on backstage.

Mariah slipped her backpack off her shoulders and set it on the ground. "Bait." She stated bluntly, quickly unzipping her bag.

"What?" Sam and Dean said in unison.

"We need bait." Mariah replied, briefly looking upwards as she dug into her backpack. The Winchesters exchanged a confused look, as Mariah didn't exactly elaborate her thoughts.

But Dean shook his head. "We're not using bait for-"

"Yes, we are." Mariah interrupted, grabbing a flashlight and a small knife from her pack. She straightened and adjusted her grip on her tools. "And it's going to be me." She concluded firmly.

"No!" They spoke together again, a little louder than before. It startled her about the fact they both seemed completely revolted by her idea. Either they didn't want her risking her life or they thought she was stupid. Mariah took the latter.

Mariah's eyes widened, her expression revealing she was alarmed by their instant response, but she continued to hold her ground. "First of all," she pointed her small knife at them. "Neither of you give a shit whether I get infected or not, so don't-"

"That's not true." Sam cut her off, and she was about to snap back before his expression made Mariah realize how genuine his statement was.

But she didn't give in, not when they were this close.

Mariah took a short pause and hung her head, then looked up at both of them. "It's the only way we could possibly save the girl, if this is where she even disappeared in the first place." She went off softly. "I can be the distraction." Mariah could tell her attempts at persuading them weren't working very well. Again.

"We aren't taking that chance," Dean started.

Mariah's shoulders sagged slightly like a child who was just told no more candy. Except instead of a sad look, Mariah looked angry. _"Dean-"_

"What if something happens?" He hissed, unwilling to explain what _"happens"_ means.

Mariah looked away and raised her arms, letting them fall and slap against her legs. "This is so stupid, I don't know why I'm even arguing with you about this." She raised her hands to her head and rubbed her temples with her thumbs. "You'd decapitate me without a second thought, am I right? I'm a sibling too, I know for a fact you're not going to let Sam go in by himself and vice versa."

"Mariah,"

"We've wasted so much time over this stupid argument; just let me do this." She was pretty much walking backwards when she asked, but all she got was a blank look from Dean and the shortest of nods from Sam, she gave a small smile. "Thank you."

Mariah turned and made her way away from the Winchesters.

Mariah walked cautiously towards the front of the house, looking over her shoulder to see that the brothers were now nowhere to be seen.

She approached the front of the house with only a small amount of confidence, knife held firmly in her left hand. She didn't really need to do much; she just needed to be caught then get a conversation going.

Easier said than done.

She paused at the start of the staircase, sighing heavily just at their appearance. After a moment of encouraging herself, she inhaled and walked carefully up the weak, wooden steps. She already hated how they groaned under her weight after the first two steps.

Honestly, she wouldn't be surprised if she fell through.

When she made it to the porch, she moved toward the broken-looking door, and attempted to open it with a few light tugs. When that didn't work, she wrenched it open. Mariah was pretty sure that if she put any more force into her pull, she would have torn it off its hinges.

This caused Mariah to question how the three teenagers managed to get inside in the first place, unless it functioned as a normal door before the Arachne did something to it.

Mariah peered through the doorway and clicked on her flashlight and immediately started observing the room.

Mariah would have been lying if she said she didn't feel shivers running down her spine. The girl she questioned definitely wasn't fibbing about large spider webs; they were all over the room. As soon as Mariah took her first step through the door, she already felt the weird tingly feeling of the webs on her arms and face.

Ignoring the uncomfortable sensation, she continued onward.

She shone her light down at the ground for a brief moment, and almost let out a shriek at the sight of two or three spiders scurrying away from her feet to avoid getting crushed. Honestly, spiders were not Mariah's thing.

Inhaling deeply for the umpteenth time in attempt to keep her cool, Mariah made sure to refrain from pointing her flashlight at the ground again.

She stalked slowly forward, and came up on a particularly large spiderweb. Squinting, Mariah let out a short sigh of disappointment in herself. The person inside the web looked hauntingly familiar; it was one of the boys from the newspaper. Mariah stepped back, and looked around a bit more.

She looked towards the kitchen, and was shocked to find someone in the corner; it was the girl.

Mariah was quick to enter the kitchen, setting the knife and flashlight on the cold ground. "Hey, hey. Are you alright?" She asked, assessing the girl who was hugging her knees to her chest and hiding her face.

The girl looked up, and her eyes instantly widening before she screamed.

All Mariah saw was a dark figure before a sharp pain, then black.

* * *

The first noise Mariah made was a pain-filled groan when she came to, reflecting the throbbing ache in her head. Her head was tilted down, hair hanging down and framing her face. Her eyes slowly opened but remained half closed to help adjust to the new lighting, but her vision stayed completely blurry. She expected to see her legs, but instead saw...white. Mariah assumed it was the Arachne's web.

 _Fuck_ , it felt like she was hit in the head with a metal baseball bat.

Well, at least her part of the plan worked in her favor.

The feeling of the webs against her bare arms caused Mariah to cringe, but she spoke nothing of it. She slowly raised her head so the ache wouldn't increase its intensity, her eyes still adjusting to the light that shone directly over head.

"Ah, you're awake."

That gravelly voice made Mariah jump in her seat, as she didn't even notice someone else was in the room. Her head whipped around to see who spoke, which was a bad idea to begin with and caused her to make a noise that sounded like groan mixed with a shout.

Mariah was beginning to believe she was actually hit in the head with a metal bat.

Maybe even a sledgehammer.

Her eyes focused on the monster that caused her the pain, and when the Arachne's features became distinguishable, Mariah's face twisted into a look of disgust. Multiple white and milky eyes, crusty skin; the whole package. The Arachne was leaning casually against the wall as if he'd been waiting there the entire time with his arms crossed.

"Dear god, I wish I wasn't." Mariah mumbled, looking away pointedly as soon as she made eye contact with him.

Mariah wasn't surprised when he reacted negatively to her statement, she hadn't really intended to be nice in her first place. The Arachne's eyes narrowed. All of them. "Words hurt, my friend." He said calmly.

"I'm _not_ your friend." Mariah ground out, daring to look at him.

The Arachne just laughed at Mariah's confident response, something telling Mariah it was just a pity laugh. Or maybe a fake laugh altogether. "You're not like the rest, are you?" He inquired, head tilting as he observed Mariah's tense figure.

Mariah offered a cocky smile to mask her discomfort under his scrutinizing stare. "Well, I am a twenty-eight year old woman." She said matter-of-factly, then looked at the Arachne with a look of fake offense. "What, am I not your forte?"

"Age is not what I am talking about." The Arachne replied darkly, head tilting downwards.

Mariah rolled her eyes. "Of course not."

"You're a hunter." He told Mariah; she just gave him a look that said duh. "I don't get many of your kind."

"What gave it away?" Mariah replied instantaneously, struggling minimally in the web throughout their entire conversation. "What's with the infestation of spiders?" Mariah switched topics, genuinely interested how he managed to get a house abandoned just by a hoard of spiders.

"You're all the same." He hissed instead of answering her question, pushing off the wall and making his way closer to Mariah. He moved slowly in a circle around her. "Know-it-alls with some bitchy attitudes." Mariah swore he sounded proud for knowing that particular information.

Mariah shrugged, or did something that looked similar. "Well, you're not wrong."

The Arachne stopped in front of Mariah and crouched low enough so he was eye-level with Mariah. He smirked. "I like you." He said softly, and Mariah felt her skin crawl.

Instead of replying immediately, Mariah had to will herself to not gag at his proximity. "...you are just festering ugly." Mariah muttered after a moment, almost laughing at his slightly stunned expression.

"See? Right there." He pointed at Mariah and straightened, shifting his weight to one side. Mariah subconsciously leaned back against the chair when she was pointed at. "You're slimming your chances of staying alive." He threatened.

"Well, I don't really seem to care."

"I should just kill you right now."

"Why don't you?"

"Or maybe, I should just turn you into one of my kind."

 _"Why don't you?"_

"Well, if since you insist." The Arachne leaned closer and aimed to place his mouth right on Mariah's neck. Mariah couldn't help but make a noise of protest and lean away from him, even though she didn't go far. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced for the sharp feeling of a bite, but it never came.

Because it sounded like someone from the other room deliberately threw something against a wall.

The Arachne stopped just short, a look of concentration on his face that she couldn't see. Mariah was frozen in place, eyes wide. "What was that noise?" He growled out, causing Mariah to flinch. He stepped back and away from Mariah, who let out a sigh of complete relief.

"What noise? I didn't hear anything." Mariah lied, a little too quickly for it to be even remotely true. Plus, her lie didn't have much support in it, since whoever made the noise did it purposely to be heard. But, Mariah couldn't really take any chances. She wanted to give the boys as much time as they needed to get the girl and anybody else out.

"You brought more of your hunter friends? How delicious." The Arachne smirked, his tone sounding sadistic. Mariah couldn't help but look disgusted, again. "Hang tight." He ordered. With that, the Arachne retreated into the other room.

Only a moment after the monster left, the sound of fighting and objects breaking filled Mariah's ears.

 _Alright, I can get out of this._

Mariah let out a large exhale, as if she'd been holding it the entire time. Okay, now, to think of an escape plan. Mariah scanned the room, and noticed how neither her knife or flashlight were in the room. Fantastic. No way was she going to chew herself out of this situation.

She looked down at the spiderweb and attempted to use her arms to break it from the inside out by pushing outward. When that didn't happen, she groaned. Tilting her head back, she closed her eyes and racked her mind to figure out a possible way to get out of her bindings.

 _Okay, maybe I can't._

When she opened her eyes, she saw someone looming next to her, and nearly screamed. Fortunately for both of them, she remained silent. "Jesus!" She breathed out. "Fuck, Sam, give me a warning next time." She whispered, looking a little annoyed. Why was he cutting her out? Wasn't he supposed to be with Dean?

"I'll keep it in mind." He whispered back, sounding apologetic while whipping out a knife skillfully and cutting through the spiderweb. As he did so, he subconsciously kept looking up at Mariah, as if giving her a brief check up. "Did he bite you?" He asked, tone worried.

Mariah shook her head. "No, nearly did, but no." She reassured quickly, watching as Sam's expressions flicked through concentrated, disappointed, angry, then back to focused. "He's one of the most talkative Arachne I've ever met." Mariah admitted with a smirk.

When Sam finished his work on the web, he straightened and gave a lopsided grin. "Monsters can be pretty talkative." He helped Mariah up out of the chair as he spoke, before reaching into his bag to return Mariah's knife and flashlight.

They jogged out of the room the way Sam came in, Sam leading Mariah out and around the house, then towards the forest. Mariah looked over her shoulder, straining her ears. Mariah could no longer hear fighting. Either she was too far away, or Dean managed to finish the job.

She found it unlikely he'd die from an Aranche, for some reason.

At the edge of the forest, the girl who went missing recently was sitting on a log. She looked terrified, and a little scraped up, but definitely alive, and luckily wasn't bitten. Though, from the way she was cradling her arm, it appeared that it was broken.

Mariah approached her and crouched, placing a gentle hand on her unharmed shoulder. "Are you alright?" She asked quietly. The girl just nodded and hugged her arm tighter to her chest. "We're gonna get you home." Mariah reassured with a small smile, glad to see the girl mirror her expression.

She then stood back up and walked over to Sam, who was leaning against a tree and staring at the old house. "You think Dean is alright?" She asked, hinting at that she'd be willing to go back in and assist.

"Yeah." Sam said quietly, turning to look at Mariah. "He took it upon himself to take care of the Arachne."

"You don't sound very pleased." Mariah pointed out, cocking an eyebrow. She crossed her arms, shifting her weight to one side. "Was there an argument?"

"I would be lying if I said no."

"I knew it. You Winchesters are so stubborn."

Sam scoffed. "Like you aren't?"

"You got me there." Mariah raised her hands in surrender. "Hey, what was that loud noise before you came into the room?"

"I threw a chair against the wall."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"I was supposed to be the distraction."

"Are you getting jealous of a chair?"

"No, that's ridiculous." Mariah said defensively, frowning. But when Sam smiled at her, her face flushed and she looked away pointedly. "Shut up."

A few minutes later, Mariah and Sam spotted Dean moving quickly down the stairs and heading their way. "You good?" Mariah asked, watching as Dean wiped specs of blood off his face with his sleeve, grip tight on his bloody machete.

"Swell." He pointed at the girl. "Let's get her to the hospital."

* * *

The trio managed to get the girl checked into the hospital with little to no problems, the only one being that they had to avoid the police.

When they walked by, they all acted like they were doing something important and faced away from them. And when the girl was questioned by the police, they had to take a short walk elsewhere.

It always worked; police weren't that observant.

During their walk, however, Dean revealed why he took so long in the house after some pressing from Mariah. The two boys had already been infected, and had to be killed.

That specific information put her out of the mood, but Sam reassured her.

When they returned to the patient's room, the doctor revealed to the three that the girl, whose name turned out to be Laura, would be just fine, and told them she actually asked if she could see them.

They complied, and were rewarded a huge thank you in return. That, was exactly why Mariah loved her job.

Mariah even offered, insisted, to let Laura use her phone to call her parents, to let them know she was alright.

It wasn't long before they all left the room after her call ended, and promptly continued to leave the building. They all walked silently to the '67 Impala, occupied by their own thoughts. When they arrived next to the car, Mariah smiled at the brothers.

"Thanks for letting me tag along." Mariah said, shoving her hands into her jean pockets. "I'm known to be difficult to work with."

"Difficult." Dean repeated, eyes practically rolling into the back of his head.

"Hey, you gotta admit, I was a little helpful." Mariah replied defensively, then sighed. "I'll get out of your hair. I'll see you around, hm?"

Dean shook his head; Sam nodded.

Mariah laughed, raising her hand in goodbye. "Bye boys."

With that, she turned and walked away.

* * *

 ** _Yay, new chapter. What did you think?_**

 ** _Also, just for some sort of description of Mariah, she looks similar to Lindsey Morgan._**

 ** _'Til next time_**

 ** _\- Pastel_**


	3. Willow Hansen

_**Oh boy, this chapter itself is 11,500+ words. A long chapter to post right before the school year starts, hurray.**_

 _ **For this, I changed the Wendigos a bit; they can't tell where you are if you don't move or speak. The corpses in the story are an exception, because they know where they are. Basically, they're a bit forgetful unless you've been captured for a while.**_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs!_**

* * *

 _ **Life With You**_

 _ **Chapter Three: Willow Hansen**_

September 19, 2012

She hadn't planned it out to be like this but, Mariah was beginning to believe that agreeing to meet up with two of her friends, Ella and Reed, was a _big_ mistake.

The night started out just fine; they shared stories about cases they took care of by themselves or with another hunter, and simple things that just happened along the way. They were just supposed to be catching up like people usually did when they've been apart for a while.

Ella had started out the story-telling, and stopped about half way through her fifth story after she noticed a bruise on Mariah's face. Mariah was honestly shocked how Ella hadn't seen it earlier; strangers seemed to be more observant than Mariah thought.

When the Arachne knocked her out, it didn't appear until a little later, but an ugly purple-colored bruise was forming nicely on Mariah's right cheekbone and spread upward near her temple. It _almost_ looked as if she had a black eye.

Mariah retold the story about the Arachne reluctantly, and that was when everything unfortunately went downhill for Mariah.

Apparently Ella knew Laura quite well, the girl who they rescued from the Arachne, and was absolutely thrilled to find out who Laura was describing when Ella paid her a visit in the hospital.

But that wasn't the worst of it.

Before she had even mentioned the case, Mariah was basically ignored for the most part of their little get together, and spent a lot of time becoming distracted by something on the floor. Mariah wasn't very much of an extroverted person, which caused her to be talked over and make no effort to say, " _Shut up, I'm talking",_ like Ella had done so many times before.

Really, the only thing that had been occupying her were the conversations around her, and her thoughts. More than once, Mariah had caught herself thinking about the brothers; the younger one more so than the other. Mariah didn't necessarily like this, so she shoved them away, and decided to eavesdrop.

Honestly, it was much more interesting to hear someone gush about someone else's success in their business than to listen to Ella's rant about her sink refusing to work at a certain point in the day.

But as soon as she retold her most recent case and her run-ins with the Winchester brothers, she was very surprised, almost annoyed, to see both Reed and Ella all over it, and suddenly become very intrigued in Mariah's recent interactions.

"You're working with the Winchesters? You're so lucky!" Ella exclaimed, clapping her hands together. She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table, resting her chin in her hands. "Tell me about them." A sparkle in Ella's eyes told Mariah she liked them.

A lot.

Mariah tilted her head slightly, observing Ella with tired eyes. _I need sleep._ "I never said I was working _with_ them." She explained quietly, causing Ella to lean closer to hear her better. Mariah almost felt bad as she watched as Ella's excited expression falter. "I ran into them twice. That's it."

The idea of Mariah working with the Winchesters felt unrealistic to her, just because Mariah believed they were pretty much a mile apart in hunting experience, despite what others have said about her knowledge of the supernatural.

Really, the Winchesters were sort of untouchable according to other hunters, and for a nobody to suddenly start working with them seemed _highly_ unlikely.

"...oh."

Mariah looked down at a crack in the round wooden table they were sitting at, and absent-mindedly ran a finger along the length. Oh, what Mariah wouldn't pay to get out of this and sleep next to-

"Yeah, right." Reed scoffed, leaning back in his chair and looking at Mariah with what she could describe as distrust.

Mariah looked up after Reed shook her out of her thoughts, taking a moment to process what he said before giving him a dirty look. Mariah could already tell Reed was in one of his moods; it was never hard to miss. Reed worked with the FBI, yet knew all about the supernatural. He was mostly snippy around hunters because of all the problems and crimes they committed just to get by; Ella and Mariah sometimes being an exception.

Yes, Mariah considered Reed somewhat of a threat. But she refused to let trust issues get in the way of their friendship, despite his behavior always seeming to get on Mariah's nerves.

As far as Mariah could tell, his snappy demeanor would always appear if someone mentioned the slightest thing about Sam and Dean. Mariah knew very well that they've been in trouble lots of times with the FBI, as mostly every hunter has, but Mariah had no idea why Reed's bitchy attitude would swing in full force every time they were spoken about.

It annoyed the hell out of Mariah.

She felt an odd urge to defend them, despite still being pretty much acquaintances with them.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mariah questioned, crossing her arms and resting her elbows on the round table. "I _did_ run into them twice." Unsurprisingly, Reed's tone implied he believed Mariah was lying.

If she was, Mariah wouldn't know why she'd lie about it in the first place. It was a stretch to lie about something like that, especially when the Winchesters were so popular among the hunting community.

That was another thing Mariah didn't understand; Sam and Dean were either loved or hated. There was no in between.

Before Reed could answer, Ella piped up. When Mariah turned to look at her, she instantly noticed that her cheerful vibe was radiating off of her again. "You _need_ to tell me what they were like." She practically begged. "I would literally _kill_ to work alongside them."

Mariah's eyes both widened and narrowed as Ella spoke, continuing to lift an eyebrow in mild confusion. For a reason Mariah couldn't come up with, it almost sounded like Ella purposely cut off Reed just to spill her pointless want. And, Ella's voice sounded pretty fake, in her opinion.

But, Mariah went along with it. She blamed it on her exhaustion, and just fought through it so she wouldn't fall asleep in the middle of a bar. "Are you sure about that?" Mariah asked, a small smile on her lips.

The thought of Ella working with the Winchesters was almost painful to visualize; Mariah was pretty sure they'd kill her just because they were annoyed.

Or, at least Dean would.

Ella's eyes widened, her grin still on full blast despite Mariah's assumption she'd second guess her most wanted thing. Though, it only seemed to strengthen her desire. "Why? What do you know that I don't know? Spill it!" Her sentence ended in laughter.

"They're very argumentative." Mariah replied, shifting her position in the unforgiving wooden seat. "Stubborn, if you will." She spoke as if it was a fond memory, and honestly, Mariah would be glad to call it that.

"Ah, that's not _so_ bad." Ella said, sounding a little relieved. She reached for her beer and raised it to her lips. "You're not very far off from that description yourself, Mariah." She joked, placing the bottle back down gently after taking a sip.

Mariah frowned and reached for her beer. "Very funny."

Ella pointed at Mariah accusingly, then, stopping Mariah in the middle of taking a sip from her drink. "Don't go running off with them." Ella practically demanded, expression searching. "You can't leave us."

Mariah gave Ella a weird look. "Who said I was going to go run off with them?" She said slowly, hating that the thought of doing that seemed pretty appealing. Even now, Mariah would love to go meet up with them and slaughter a vampire. Hell, she'd love to just fail at microwaving a frozen pizza with them.

Anything was better than _this_.

Mariah felt bad then, realizing she'd rather do things with two guys who were still pretty much strangers, than hang out with two of her closest friends.

"I'd never leave you guys." Mariah stated firmly after a moment, smiling.

"You better." Ella replied lowly, making brief eye contact with Reed, who had been strangely silent the entire time.

"That sounds vaguely threatening, but alright."

Ella laughed. "It's a gift."

"You know what's funny?" Reed suddenly cut in, putting an abrupt end to Ella's laughter. Mariah's smile disappeared instantaneously, catching on to the fact his voice told her that whatever he was going to say next, was not funny.

"What?" The girls replied in unison.

"Why is it that as soon as they intrude into your house and kill your dog, you're all buddy-buddy with them?" Reed asked, attempting and failing at trying to sound genuine.

Mariah's eyes widened and felt her heartbeat quicken, before her face morphed into a glare. She _only_ told her immediate family and _only_ a few of her very close friends that Cooper died because he was _hit by a car_. She didn't even speak about Cooper's death to Reed; this was another perfect reason for Mariah's list of trust issues.

She never even _hinted_ at the fact Cooper was shot.

"How do you know about that?" Mariah ground out through clenched teeth, tone sounding pretty close to threatening. Mariah _really_ didn't want to talk about that at the moment, and _really_ didn't want Ella to know about it. It wasn't like she could do something to Reed no matter how much she wanted to, though. She could easily be arrested, even if she's gotten out of those situations many times before.

Reed never approved of her escapes, but never made a move to stop her, either.

"They killed Cooper?" Ella asked quietly, her question somewhat directed to both of them. A scared look was on her face.

Maybe the news of Cooper's death would make her lay off her intense infatuation with the brothers.

Reed blatantly ignored Ella's question and continued to stare down Mariah. "I have my sources." He replied, sounding cocky. "Who knew you'd take a liking to a _Skinwalker_ , of all things. I thought you were a good hunter?"

 _Bitch_. Mariah thought bitterly, not even regretting the insult. She felt her eyes beginning to water, but refused to let the tears roll down her face by quickly blinking them away. "Shut up," Mariah growled. "It was an _accident_."

Ella, who was still very much out of the loop, looked completely lost and worried at the same time. "Cooper was a Skinwalker?" Her words came out sounding similar to a whisper. Mariah was surprised she was even able to hear her.

"You make a lot of those, don't you, Mariah?" Reed was unimpressed by her excuse. "Mistakes."

"Everyone makes mistakes," Mariah shot back evasively. Reed was hitting just a little too close to home for Mariah, and that was all someone needed to overpower or set her off.

"Not as many as you make." Reed retorted, speaking as if he was prepared to list off every single mistake Mariah has ever made in her life. Mariah wouldn't be surprised if he did; Mariah had done a lot of things she wasn't proud of.

Mariah stared straight at Reed, grip tightening on her beer she'd been holding for the past five minutes. "What's your problem, Reed? Why can't you just drop it?"

"You. You're my problem." He hissed, leaning forward so his arms rested on the table. Ella looked frightened at the sight of Reed and Mariah, looking about only a word away before they started throwing punches. "Everyone knows the Winchesters are bad news, no matter how good they hunt, and you're just following in their footsteps."

"Running into them twice doesn't mean I'm following in their footsteps." Mariah snapped. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Doesn't matter."

"How about you leave my decisions to me. You work your corners, I'll work mine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Mariah leaned back in her seat, rolling her eyes and turned her head subconsciously towards the door. Now she really wanted to leave. No, Mariah wanted to punch Reed square in the mouth, and _then_ leave.

"Just don't come crawling to us when they sudden turn their back on you." Reed warned after a moment, voice trailing off as he lifted his beer to his mouth.

"Excuse me?" Mariah looked offended. "Who said I was ever-"

Ella cut Mariah off, completely over their argument and done with being out of the conversation. "Mariah, ignore him." Her voice sounded tired. "He's in a pissy mood."

"I can tell." At that point, Mariah was basically loathing Reed.

"This is not what I wanted when I said we should meet up and have fun." Ella sighed, running her hands over her face. "Are you alright?" She asked softly, giving Mariah a sympathetic look.

Mariah nodded slowly, looking down at her hands that were resting in her lap. "Yes." A voice crack gave away that Mariah was just the opposite. She could feel somewhat of a pressure behind her eyes; tears were threatening to spill.

Reed scoffed and glared at the two girls. "Yeah, since she's now being influenced by their demons." He looked away as he spoke, his eyes trained on something irrelevant.

Mariah stood up then, using her hands as support against the table to shove the chair backwards, causing a screech-like noise to emit from the wooden legs when they drug against the hard floor. "You know what? I'm done. I need to get ready for a case." She said simply, then stormed away from the table and towards the bar's door.

"Mariah!" Ella called after her, but when she didn't prevail, she turned back to Reed with an disappointed frown. "You're _really_ good at being subtle, Reed." Sarcasm was heavy in her voice.

Reed shrugged. "At least I got my point across." He leaned back again, eyes trained at the bar's door. "If she doesn't listen, she'll just get in the way."

Ella scoffed. "And if she does get in the way?"

"It won't be my fault if she gets hurt."

* * *

September 20, 2012

"Man, I don't wanna do this."

Mariah internally agreed with that statement.

To make a long story short, word had recently gotten around in the hunting community that a Wendigo was running free in a forest located in Nothern Michigan. There had been a multitude of hunters that went to the forest in search for the thing, but instead of exterminating the monster, the hunters ended up disappearing themselves.

Basically, Mariah's job was now to kill the Wendigo, and recover any suriving hunters.

With a few phone calls, Mariah was both grateful and aggravated to find out that one hunter managed to escape the Wendigo's attack with only a minor injury, because he decided to dip out as soon as the monster made an appearance.

Successfully leaving his partner in the dust.

How he was able to do so, Mariah had no idea. But Mariah was a little harsher than necessary when she and her partner, Willow, went to question him, and she could tell she intimidated him by the time they left. Though, she did get what she needed, and that was proof that it _was_ a Wendigo.

Mariah had been in situations where she believed she was hunting one thing, and it ended up being something else, causing lots of injuries afterwards.

Mariah looked up from her place at the small table the motel offered, watching amusedly as Willow threw her arms in the air and let herself fall backwards onto one of the beds. _Relatable._ Mariah made a noise that sounded like a short laugh, and looked back at her computer's screen. "Why not?"

Her question and outer emotion she projected was contradicting her inner want to just stay in bed all day and eat.

"Wendigos are bitches." Willow complained, her sentence ending in some sort of nasally whine. She threw her arm over her face to shield her eyes from the bright light overhead.

Willow Hansen.

Before the case, Mariah had absolutely no idea who Willow was. Her impression of her was she was more on the younger side, and acted that way, too. She was informed by a friend who knew Willow that she was an _okay_ hunter; revealing she was pretty new to the whole hunting ordeal.

Mariah was immediately discouraged after that.

She was pretty skeptical about the whole thing, because Mariah did _not_ sign up for babysitting. Hell, for all she knew, she was hunting with a sixteen year old. She ended up forcing herself to join Willow on the Wendigo case; she didn't want willow to be killed just because she declined.

Dying by the hands of a Wendigo was an awful way to go.

What also confused Mariah, though, was that Willow was practically begging for Mariah to join her, and now she was claiming that she didn't want to do it at all. _Oh well._

"Well, I can't really argue with that." Mariah said, tilting her head as her eyes skimmed the words that told about the lore surrounding Wendigos. "But," she paused, eyes sliding over to look at her fellow hunter. "You've never hunted one before. So how would you know they're _bitches_?"

Willow propped herself up on both elbows, looking at Mariah as if she just ate the last slice of pizza. "I've heard horror stories." She let herself fall flat again, and sighed. "Tell me about them."

Mariah blinked and turned back to her computer. _Does she really know nothing about Wendigos?_

"Basically, every Wendigo in the world used to be a human." Mariah explained, then paused and waited for Willow's sympathetic mumbling to stop. "They became cannibals during harsh winters when their supplies ran out."

"...that's terrible."

"Cultures all over the world believe that becoming a cannibal will give you abilities like super strength. Of course, there's always a downside to everything." Mariah went on darkly. "The more you ate, the more inhumane you became."

Mariah heard a noise that sounded like a groan mixed with a whine from Willow. Mariah replied with her own quiet noise that sounded like a short laugh, then stopped herself. It wasn't a laughing matter, but she couldn't help it. _Willow is very vocal._

"They know how to survive winters when no food is around. They hibernate for who knows how many years, and keeps its victims alive when it's awake." Mariah yawned, resting her chin in her hand. "Basically storing them to feed whenever they want." Her voice was slightly muffled by her hand.

Willow shot up then, a hopeful glint in her blue eyes. "So the hunters could still be alive, right?"

Mariah gave a short nod. "That's what I'm hoping."

"So...how do we kill it?"

Mariah adjusted her position in the motel's chair and leaned against the back, folding her hands in her lap. "Guns and knives are completely useless." Mariah started, nearly laughing at Willow's horrified expression. "So, we use fire."

* * *

September 21, 2012

Mariah found out pretty quickly that Willow acted like a stranger to the word _silence_. Actually, from the way she spoke, Willow probably didn't even know the word existed.

There were a number of situations when being silent was crucial, and this particular hunting case was definitely one of those situations.

But it appeared Willow didn't read the fine print when she chose to start hunting.

Mariah knew all too well that Willow was very aware of what they were hunting, but nevertheless, she would recklessly recall random stories about camping, or just hiking through a forest with her family. She even let out a loud laugh when she retold a short story about her friend slipping into a small creek.

Mariah didn't even bother warning Willow about her voice level, because she already did it once and that worked for maybe...five minutes.

Just to humor her throughout her ramblings, Mariah would give one of those short, false laughs; just so Willow wouldn't look back at her and wait an awkward amount of time for a reaction.

Unfortunately for Mariah, as soon as one story ended, another one would start just as quickly. The more time Mariah spent with Willow, the more she realized how much she treasured silence.

And just to add to the fun, Mariah was sure she was the only one doing her part of the duo. It wasn't hard to see she was about ten times more alert than Willow was, because the slightest noise made Mariah whip around and reach back for her flamethrower.

If they were both being attentive, she wouldn't be so jumpy.

Mariah didn't know whether to be thankful or disappointed when each noise ended up being a bird.

The flamethrower Mariah had wasn't necessarily hers; it was Renee's, her older sister. She managed to swipe it from her house, however, she didn't admit to it when Willow asked where she got it.

Why was it there in the first place? Mariah didn't know, and chose not to question it.

Willow had her own flamethrower, sort of. If it could even be called that. Mariah didn't know how to describe it, it might as well be a can of raid and a lighter. All in all, it wasn't useful.

The entire time the girls were trekking through the forest, Willow's voice would slowly fade in and out while Mariah attempted to focus on more important things. Such as how to successfully complete the case, or the Win-

Mariah blinked. _That's not important._

The darkening sky caused the two to put an end to their journey, and by the time they set up their camp, there had been absolutely no sign of the Wendigo. Mariah wasn't exactly sure if that was a good thing, or a bad thing. Willow's opinion on Mariah's decision to stop early wasn't very positive, because she claimed she got restless.

Mariah really didn't care, because being restless was much better than being ripped apart.

Just in her personal opinion.

Willow slipped the straps of her backpack off her shoulders and let it fall to the ground, before making her way over to a fallen tree and sitting herself down so her back rested against it. She kept herself occupied by drawing nonsensical scribbles in the dirt, but stopped about twenty seconds into it and turned towards Mariah. She watched almost disinterestedly as Mariah walked slowly in a wide circle around their camp, stopping every once in a moment to lean down and draw something from her journal in the dirt with a good-sized stick.

"What are you doing?" Willow asked after a moment of observation. Her head was tilted slightly, with her eyes squinting against the light from the crackling fire.

If Mariah's ears weren't playing tricks on her, she could've sworn she heard a hint of disgust in her tone, as if she didn't like the idea of drawing in the dirt despite the fact she was doing it herself thirty seconds ago.

"Keeping your ass safe." Mariah hissed without a second thought, or a glance in Willow's direction. She moved away from what she last drew, before crouching down to draw another symbol that was pictured differently in her journal.

Perhaps she was being a tad too harsh on Willow, but really, if she didn't know how to hunt correctly, she shouldn't be doing it at all.

Period.

Just from today, Mariah genuinely believed Willow hadn't had a single lesson about hunting once in her life, and was in desperate need to be taught.

And maybe on the way, purchase a dictionary to look up the word quiet.

After Mariah snapped, Willow stayed silent for the first time. But it was only a moment later before she hesitantly pushed herself to her feet and walked slowly over to Mariah. She peered around her crouched figure to look at the weird symbols she was drawing.

"I've never seen those before." Willow murmured more so to herself, crossing her arms tightly.

 _Of course you haven't._ Mariah thought bitterly with a frown, thankful that Willow couldn't see her expression from her position. She straightened, and glanced between Willow and her symbols. "They're Anasazi symbols." Mariah offered, unsurprised at Willow's raised eyebrows. "They keep away Wendigos, like what salt does with ghosts." She went on.

Willow's curious expression dissipated and reformed into a look of disbelief after Mariah's explanation. But when Mariah's serious look didn't falter, Willow turned away awkwardly. "Um, alright." She muttered, then stepped away from Mariah and closer to the fire. "What do we do now?"

Mariah gave a mere shrug and shut her journal. "Well, we definitely can't go after it. These things are outstanding hunters at night."

"So we just...sit?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"...no."

"Alrighty then." Mariah replied, heading over to her bag she had placed near the fallen tree. She put her journal back in its place, before sitting down on the log where Willow previously sat. Willow stood in place for an awkward moment, before moving to sit next to her. Between the two, they were silent for approximately three minutes, before Willow started babbling again.

Was it bad to have the urge to punch someone just because they talked _too_ much?

For the next thirty minutes or so, Mariah found herself nodding off to Willow's irrelevant stories, and had to slap herself at least twice to keep herself somewhat awake. Willow didn't notice any of that, and just continued...speaking.

Mariah was baffled the Wendigo hadn't made an appearance yet.

"...and _then_ Rebecca told me her friend bought this cool yellow Camaro, but apparently it was a little-" Willow stopped abruptly, an uncomfortable look on her face. She'd done that five times in the past twenty minutes, and Mariah was just too zoned out to ask about it the first few times.

Mariah looked up a fraction of an inch. "What?"

"I need to use the bathroom."

Mariah didn't reply for a bit after that, and just stared hopelessly at the ground. Firstly, this was exactly what Mariah was dreading. Secondly, _why me?_

Without a word, Mariah reached over to her left and pulled her bag into her lap. After unbuckling the flamethrower from her bag, she set it back down on the ground between her feet.

She held the weapon out to Willow sideways. No way was she going to let Willow use her small can of raid and a lighter to fend off a Wendigo. "You know how to use this, correct?" _Please say yes._

"Yes."

 _Thank God._ Yet, somehow despite Willow's firm response, something told her Willow wasn't completely comfortable with handling the flamethrower. But if Willow was confident in herself, Mariah was too.

"Take it, and do _not_ hesitate to use it, you understand? Forest fires don't matter." Mariah paused and took a quick second to look at all the tall trees surrounding them. "At least, not right now."

"Okay." Willow said after inhaling. "I understand." With that, Mariah watched Willow take the flamethrower from her hands, stand up, and disappear into the trees.

Into the darkness.

As soon as Mariah could no longer see Willow, she covered her face with her hands and groaned. She felt as if she just let a toddler walk across a busy highway by itself.

The silence was already putting her on edge since Willow definitely wasn't know for it. It could mean three things: she was fine, she was already dead, or she was taken. Mariah shook her head to rid the negative thoughts and rubbed her eyes until she saw stars. She had to stare straight ahead of her for it to go away, along with the pressure.

She inhaled, and that was when she heard Willow's high-pitched, terrified scream, followed by what looked like a short burst of fire.

"Willow?" Mariah called, the grogginess instantly evaporating as soon as she stood and ran towards the outer edge of the protective circle she made with the Anasazi symbols. _I should have told her to just hold it._

Mariah held her breath, and pretty much stumbled in place while jumping out of her own skin when her name was screamed out into the night. The scream was _way_ too human for a Wendigo to make it; it was definitely Willow.

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck._

Mariah cringed and cursed at herself, promptly forcing herself to step out of the protective circle and run, no, _sprint_ towards the place Willow disappeared to.

She needed that flamethrower.

As soon as Mariah left the circle, she felt the gusts of wind caused by movement all around her, but she knew very well that it was only one Wendigo.

Unsurprisingly, she found the flamethrower discarded haphazardly on the ground, as if it was thrown.

She reached down immediately with the intention to grab it, but just as her fingertips brushed against it, she was lifted off the ground by her waist. The sudden action caused a scream to erupt from Mariah, but it was cut short when she began to move at high speeds. Fast enough that Mariah lost all sense of direction, and the feeling of lightheadedness became impossibly intense; Mariah was stunned she hadn't passed out.

The only thing she was sure that was keeping her awake, was the thin branches and bushes she occasionally hit as she was being dragged around like an unappreciated rag doll.

Mariah was one-hundred percent sure she'd have a concussion after this joyride.

Her head hit a thick branch, and that was when everything went black.

* * *

September 22, 2012

Mariah slowly gained back her consciousness a day after she was taken, but she really wished she hadn't woken up in the first place. Her head felt like it was going to implode; it hurt in places Mariah didn't even know a headache could reach.

Tired and painful sounding groans involuntarily spilled from Mariah's split and bleeding lips in reflection from all the pain she was feeling, and it took her more than a couple of minutes to gather a little bit of her bearings.

The only thing she was completely sure of, was that she was definitely bleeding, and _everything_ hurt.

Every time she inhaled, she could feel soreness in her sternum and ribs. Every time she exhaled, she felt more pain in her ribs and lungs.

With every little movement she made, including shifting her weight from one leg to another, she could feel the nasty gash across her torso, that was produced by the Wendigo when she was grabbed, stretch and pull in effect. And staying completely still was a lot harder than Mariah thought it would be. She could tell the gash was deep just by the amount of pain, but she hoped it wasn't deep enough that with one wrong move, her intestines would fall out.

That was the last thing Mariah needed.

The amount of blood she was losing at a time thankfully wasn't a _huge_ amount, but Mariah could feel the stream of blood against her skin that wasn't torn. And even better, she could tell her face, neck and back was scraped up like no tomorrow because of the ride the Wendigo gave her for free.

Her legs were sore, and she could feel the slight sting on her shins and thighs from when the fabric of her jeans rubbed against the small cuts.

To sum it all up, she felt like complete shit, and just really wanted to go home.

To prevent any more pain, Mariah lifted her head at the slowest possible speed she could manage, and let her eyes roam around everything around her. She couldn't see much, though, from her...position.

Mariah didn't even register until after she was done focusing on all of her wounds that her hands were bound together above her head by a thick rope, and her feet barely touched the ground. If she tried, only her toes and the ball of her feet would touch.

It took a surprising amount of time for Mariah's eyes to adjust to the darkness and for her vision to clear up, but when it did, Mariah saw that she was being held captive in a small cave.

A literal hole in the wall, if you will.

It was hard to tell one thing from another, as there was little to no lighting in the cave. But, Mariah believed it was probably better that way, anyway.

Seeing mutilated hunters was not on her personal agenda.

The cave was cold, and just really unpleasant to be in. The cave's aroma was so repulsive to the point it made Mariah's eyes water, and caused her to force herself to breathe through her mouth, despite the difficulty. Mariah had a pretty good idea about what was causing the smell, but didn't want to think too deeply about it.

She was closest to the entrance, so everyone else had to be behind her.

Using the tips of her shoes, Mariah turned herself in place, pushing and grimacing through the pain she was causing herself. She was able to turn almost completely around, and when she relaxed her expression, her eyes adjusted again and she was soon able to see dark silhouettes in the dim cave.

The first one her eyes landed on, was Willow.

She was close enough for Mariah to make out her relaxed facial features, and from what Mariah could tell, she was still knocked out cold, and was injured just as bad, or maybe even worse, than herself. Her shirt was colored with her own blood, and the stain seemed to just keep growing. Slowly, but definitely growing.

 _Willow, please wake up._

Mariah turned herself just a bit more and squinted at the other outlines of bodies. After observing for only a moment, Mariah could tell they were complete goners just by the shape of their silhouettes. One in particular almost didn't even look remotely similar to the human body, and Mariah was thankful she couldn't see the detail.

All the hunters who went missing, were now just hanging corpses.

Mariah sighed and grimaced again, releasing the tension in her legs so she'd turn back to her original position. She left her feet touching the ground so she wouldn't turn too fast, and cause more unwanted pain.

"...this is just... _dandy_." She muttered to herself, disliking the sound of her raw voice due to her screaming from before. Her eyes slipped close, to help ignore the feeling of her blood oozing out of her wounds.

If they got out of this alive, Mariah would make sure to never go on a case with Willow again, and pray for those who did.

And personally make sure Willow was taught correctly how to hunt.

* * *

September 23, 2012

The next day was when Willow finally came to.

Mariah thought it was about time, too. She was getting bored just staring at the wall, constantly fading in and out of consciousness, and slowly losing her ability to think straight because of blood loss.

All of that, plus feeling the terrible rush of anxiety whenever she heard the Wendigo approach or pass by the cave they were being held in.

And when it entered the cave, Mariah kept her eyes shut tight and willed herself to be as silent as an empty cemetery.

Mariah already had the misfortune of witnessing the Wendigo finish off the recognizable hunter, leave, then return to take a few bites out of another. And once, the Wendigo poked at her because Mariah exhaled a little too loudly. She thanked whatever distracted the Wendigo, because it suddenly lost interest in her and vanished.

Mariah really, _really_ didn't want to be monster food.

"...Mariah?" Willow whispered, her voice giving a small crack. Her tone sounded scared, and her voice sounded dry, as if she needed water.

Both water and food sounded amazing at the moment.

"Hm?" Mariah hummed tiredly in reply, not wanting to talk too much to the point it gained unwanted attention. Her eyes opened slowly; everything looked blurry again.

"Are they dead?"

Mariah sighed and offered somewhat of a sympathetic look, despite the fact Willow couldn't see it. Mariah hated how Willow sounded younger as soon as she asked the question, as if she was still in the age range of one digit. She almost wanted to lie, but Mariah knew that Willow was far from being a seven year old, and had chosen this path to take in her life.

"Yes."

There was no reply after that, but Mariah heard her take a sharp intake of breath, whether it be from a sudden twinge of pain or shock.

If she was in Willow's place, Mariah was pretty sure she wouldn't have responded in any way. It was clear Willow was much more alert than Mariah was.

 _The irony._

Mariah closed her eyes, and let her head fall against her chest, assuming Willow was done talking.

She hated herself for looking at the bright side of the situation, but couldn't help it. There were only five hunters in the cave, including Mariah and Willow. Only three before them went in search for the Wendigo, which meant no one else disappeared.

 _If you think about it...five isn't a lot in the hunting community._

 _Right?_

* * *

September 24, 2012

No matter how many times the Wendigo would walk past the cave's entrance, or how many times the monster actually entered, Mariah and Willow would never get used to it, and were totally unable to shake the feeling of sheer terror.

And today decided to be one of _those_ days for Mariah.

Mariah and Willow were having a short worded, quiet spoken conversation, since that was all Mariah could manage at that point, about how they could potentially escape their predicament, when the Wendigo's footsteps were heard.

They instantly fell silent in the middle of their sentences, almost robot-like, and watched the opening to the cave with wide eyes. The Wendigo ducked through the entrance, and continued to stalk casually towards the girls.

Mariah knew it was heading for a corpse behind them, so she held still and kept quiet.

But Willow's self control betrayed her, because as soon as the Wendigo came close enough that she could've reached out and touched it, Willow squirmed in her restraints and made a noise similar to that of an uncomfortable whine.

Mariah always stayed still whenever she was in the presence of the Wendigo, but this time, she turned herself around and watched with terrified eyes as the Wendigo's head whipped around to look straight at Willow, and produce a noise that was completely inhumane. After that, the Wendigo became totally intent on making Willow its next meal.

Mariah instantly turned away as soon as Willow's screaming became unbearable to endure, and Mariah strained and struggled against the ropes that held her there despite her pain. She used her arms to squeeze against her head so her painfilled cries weren't so loud, but Mariah could feel her eyes begin to water.

 _This isn't what I wanted._

Mariah felt like her heart stopped when Willow's screaming came to an abrupt end, but tears fell down her face when she realized the sound of the Wendigo eating, did not.

 _She's dead, and it's my fault._

Everything fell quiet except for the Wendigo's heavy breathing next to Mariah's ear, but Mariah held her ground and didn't move. She watched through half-open eyes as the monster's blurry figure staggered past her, the scent of Willow's blood making Mariah internally scream. The Wendigo's head was tilted, as if it was listening to something Mariah couldn't hear. Then in a blink of an eye, the Wendigo was gone in search of whatever caught it's attention.

Mariah exhaled silently but shakily, eyes sliding to the right. She didn't dare turn herself around.

"...Willow?"

No response.

"Willow...please."

Silence. If anything, she heard the rope groan under Willow's dead weight.

 _Fuck it all._

Mariah let her head drop; she felt completely defeated. Willow may not have been the greatest hunter in history, but Mariah would never wish this upon anyone.

She felt tears continue to roll down her face and drip off the end of her nose and chin, but Mariah made no sound to imply that she was crying.

It was too much.

Yes, hunting was never easy.

But witnessing death in a certain state was too much.

 _She would never live this down._

Footsteps filled Mariah's ears, and she strained against the rope again, even if it was no use to try and break out of them. Especially since she was so weak. After a moment of useless tugging, she fell limp, but something made her look up.

The footsteps sounded different. Quicker, lighter...and it sounded like there were two sets.

 _Why couldn't you have come earlier?_

She saw two dark figures cautiously enter the cave, weapons raised and pointed in Mariah's direction. She ignored her want to cry out for help, and remained silent like she'd done so many times before.

When there was no sign of danger, they lowered their weapons a fraction and moved forward, briskly walking right past Mariah. They gave everyone a brief check up, with an exception of the one hunter that was barely recognizable because it had been finished off. When they realized everyone was dead, they turned back to Mariah.

She felt one of them press two fingers to her pulse, causing her to unconsciously lean into the contact, as it was much more inviting than the claws of a Wendigo.

With muffled words, they came into her line of sight. Mariah was still unsure about who they were, as her eyesight was very unforgiving at the time. But she couldn't help but squint at them in mild recognition.

They were talking to each other, but Mariah couldn't figure out what they were saying for the life of her. All she heard was mumbling, and something along the lines of _Wendigo_ and _hospital_.

Mariah felt the taller of the two men place his hands near the underside of Mariah's arms in preparation to catch her. If she wasn't so out of it, Mariah would have made a suggestive comment. She could also feel the slight pull as the shorter man cut her restraints. Mariah took a moment to look up at the man in front of her. He was close enough that Mariah could just make out his facial features.

 _I know you._

"...Sam," She breathed out, successfully getting him to look straight at her. He looked at her as if he didn't understand how she knew his name, before his expression suddenly changed to realization mixed with complete horror. After that, Mariah was sure Sam said something to Dean that sounded like, _hurry up._

When the rope was finally cut, Mariah felt herself instantly drop down forward, her knees completely giving out underneath her as soon as her feet touched the ground. She didn't fall far, because strong arms held her up under her own arms. Thankfully, otherwise she would have face planted into Sam's chest.

But being caught didn't stop Mariah from letting out a strangled cry mixed with something that sounded similar to a sob, because of her open wound.

 _"Shh...sorry...be okay."_

She felt him say that near her ear, but even then, Mariah was pretty sure that wasn't exactly what he said. Even so, his voice sounded like rich caramel compared to the Wendigo's skin-crawling noises.

She felt her wrists being tugged on, and realized that Dean was relieving her of the rope that held her tight for three days. When they were gone, Mariah grimaced at the sight of her wrists. She couldn't see it clearly, but they were definitely red and irritated.

 _"Can you walk?"_

If Mariah had enough oxygen in her lungs, she would have laughed at them. Really, it sounded like a stupid question in her opinion.

A newborn giraffe could walk better than her.

The brothers exchanged more serious-sounding words, but it was all just muffled nonsense to Mariah. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Everything looked hazy. Everything sounded muffled.

 _I've lost too much blood._

When Sam didn't receive an answer from Mariah, he removed one arm and hooked it behind and under Mariah's legs, thus picking her up bridal style. Mariah didn't even notice she was being lifted until the pain hit her, and she let out another cry that was mixed with some sort of gasp. She heard an apology whispered to her.

With another exchanged of quiet spoken words, they exited the cave, Sam taking extra precaution so that Mariah didn't hit anything. Mariah managed to look over Sam's shoulder, and she was able to catch the slightest of glimpses of Willow.

 _I'm so sorry I couldn't save you._

Everything was still dark, blurry and completely unintelligible to Mariah after they left the cave. The brothers were still talking lowly, but Mariah had no idea what they were talking about. She only heard a few words that made sense, like _bitch_ and _torch_ , but they were completely out of context. She thought she heard a question that was directed towards her, but not quite hearing it, she just remained quiet.

They were speed walking, or perhaps jogging, the entire time, but with Mariah's messed up perspective, they were either moving too fast, too slow, or not at all.

Either way, she was in a _lot_ of pain.

One of her arms was resting loosely around Sam's shoulders, her nails digging into his shoulder in retaliation when Sam moved in a way that wasn't in Mariah's favor. The other was pressed against her torso's gash in attempt to stop the blood flow.

Mariah was absolutely amazed she hadn't died yet. Who knows how much blood she's lost, and the fact that she was still alive and somewhat kicking gave her some sort of idea she was a stronger than the average human.

But then again, she was acting like she was drunk off of Benadryl.

Mariah was able to get her breathing steady a few minutes into being carried, but just when she thought she could continue like that without much more pain, she was dropped and pulled against the corridor's wall. She opened her mouth, but a hand covered it and successfully muffled her cry.

She would have cussed them both out if it wasn't for the situation they were in.

Her hooded eyes opened marginally wider when she saw the Wendigo's blurry figure walking slowly by, head turning every which way as if it was searching for something. Unfortunately, it was walking the way they were originally heading.

As soon as Sam and Dean thought the Wendigo was far enough away to be out of earshot, they started whispering to each other. But from the tone of their voices, Mariah could tell they were arguing. And she was surprised she was actually able to make out the words.

 _"I can lead it away."_

 _"We're not doing this again."_

Mariah squinted. What was that supposed to mean?

 _"Do you want her to bleed out?"_

 _"No,"_

 _"Then I suggest you let me do my job."_

Mariah felt Sam grow tense around her, and Mariah wanted to roll her eyes. _Brothers._

She saw Dean give Sam an object, and just like that, the older Winchester left Mariah's side and jogged the opposite way the Wendigo went. She heard a few gunshots and Dean yell something challenging, but Mariah was back to being unable to hear anything correctly.

She was about to ask why they weren't moving, when a sudden gust of wind silenced her.

 _There goes the monster._

She felt Sam's arm remove itself from around her before she was easily lifted again, a bit quicker than before, and they continued to make their way hastily down the dark corridor. Mariah heard Sam say something, but she wasn't sure what he said.

Something felt weird under her knees, and her eyes spotted the thing Dean gave Sam. It looked similar to that of a teakettle, and Sam made sure it was pointing ahead of them in case they were to run into the Wendigo.

It was just, a deadly-looking teakettle.

 _Homemade flamethrower._

Throughout the entire time Sam was making a beeline for the exit, he would constantly be saying things to Mariah in attempt to keep her awake. He was doing well, as far as he could tell, because Mariah would always react in one way or another depending on what he said.

 _"We're almost there, just stay with me."_

 _"...ah...take your time."_

If someone asked, Mariah would admit she had no memory conversing with Sam at all.

Mariah would have denied the fact she was scared about the whole situation she was in, but really, she was terrified. She didn't want to die.

Though, being in good hands, quite literally, gave her a little bit of hope she'd survive this terrible roller coaster.

And being very scared, meant making jokes at the wrong time.

Mariah leaned her head against Sam's shoulder and looked up at him. "...so, this a normal thing for you?" She asked lazily with a small grin, but wouldn't admit that her tone was a bit flirtatious.

 _"Mariah...talk. It'll only...situation worse."_

Mariah squinted, but got the gist of his sentence. He's probably said that about five times sincd Mariah would always reply to whatever he'd say, and she wasn't really catching on about _why_ he didn't want her responding to him. "...okay." Her grin didn't falter, however, because Sam's muffled tone didn't sound as serious as he intended it to be.

Sam continued on without another word, and Mariah couldn't help but admire him in her loopy state. Why the hell not? She was pretty much in the 'fifty-fifty chance of dying' moment, and honestly, if his face was the last one Mariah saw before she died, she wouldn't complain. Especially from _that_ angle. Hell, his jawline was fantastic.

But reality came crashing back, and Mariah felt like a total asshole.

Willow was literally eaten alive in front of her, and now all Mariah was thinking about was how weird it was that she wasn't dead yet, and Sam's handsome face.

 _I'm going to Hell._

Mariah found herself dozing off, but made no effort to keep herself awake. Sleep sounded pretty nice at the moment, and staying awake in general was agonizingly difficult. But before she could slip away, Sam purposely bumped her head with the shoulder her head was resting on, and repeated something he said before. Mariah just groaned.

 _Right, stay awake. Don't die._

She struggled out a sigh, and kept her eyes open. She focused her attention on anything other than her gross gash in attempt to stay apart of reality.

Only a moment later, she was set down again, and pulled against the wall. Again.

The movement was sudden, and horrifically painful. She was pressed up against Sam, but it didn't stop her from biting down on anything to keep herself from screaming.

It ended up being his jacket.

By that time, everything felt totally numb to Mariah. Even using Sam as some sort of leverage, she was pretty sure she was physically unable to hold herself up. Thankfully, Sam did the work for her. And with their proximity, Mariah was probably going to bring it up later if she remembered.

She could hear his quickened heartbeat.

Mariah was pretty out of it, but she knew he was doing the whole thing for a reason other than to just hug her, but was angered because she couldn't figure out why. She heard him mutter something that sounded like, _stay silent_. But it was so quiet, Mariah wasn't sure if that's what he said.

Though Mariah complied without a problem, and that was when she felt someone breathing on her. No, some _thing._ The air was too forceful for it to be Sam. Realization hit her like a freight train, and Mariah's heart leapt into her throat.

A Wendigo was breathing on her.

 _There's two?_

No wonder the Wendigo had come in so many times to feed, _there was more than one._

Mariah felt like screaming out in both agony and anger. She could literally see the light from the exit from where she stood, but with the Wendigo so close, Mariah didn't dare to move. It was _way_ too close for Sam to use his flamethrower, because they'd be caught in the fire along with it.

Really, Mariah could brush her cheek up against its own if she wanted to.

It felt like an hour before another series of gunshot rang out from elsewhere in the maze of corridors, and the Wendigo disappeared in a flash like it was never there in the first place.

She was picked up for the third time that day, let out a pain-filled cry that was hard to curb for the umpteenth time, and was promptly carried out of the dark caves and into the bright light of day.

The next thing Mariah knew, was that she was laying in the front seat of the Impala; her head resting in Sam's lap with her legs in Dean's. From the sharp turns and the constant slowing down, Mariah guessed the car was moving at a pretty high speed.

The only reason Mariah could tell why she was still awake was because of Sam and Dean's constant random questions about whatever despite the fact she only answered whatever first came to mind. Or sometimes she didn't answer at all, and just groaned in pain.

She could tell Sam's questions were fucking random as hell, while Dean's were a no brainer.

 _"A, b, c, d, e, f..."_

 _"...g."_

 _"Alright."_

Apparently being annoyed was a good way to stay conscious.

 _"In the U.S military, what does the acronym NCO stand for?"_

 _"Nobody cares...Oliver?"_

 _"Close, but it's non-commissioned officer."_

 _"Dude,"_

 _"What?"_

Come on, sleep couldn't be _that_ bad.

Really, Mariah was proud of herself for staying awake for that long, even if she had no idea how she was able to do it. She marveled at how difficult it was to keep herself from passing out with all the blood loss. Actually, she was still baffled about why she _wasn't dead_.

Perhaps she had someone watching over her.

* * *

 _"...surprised at how well she's healing. Her vital signs are pretty stable, despite the fact she's lost a large amount of blood."_

Mariah felt her senses come back into action as soon as she was rendered conscious. The odd smell of hospital aroma reached her nose, the familiar noises and conversations around her filled her ears, and the uncomfortable feeling of the hospital dress thing- Mariah didn't know what they were called- touching what she guessed to be stitches.

The first thing she noticed, was how much better she felt. She could feel tight bandages all over, and the mental feeling of heaviness everywhere; like you just didn't want to move. The pain she had now was more just soreness and ache, but she knew as soon as she moved, the feeling of her stitches wouldn't be the best.

She was laying in a hospital bed, the familiar beeping of her heart monitor close by. She felt the IV in her arm, and didn't realize until after she moved her arm how uncomfortable it was.

Most of the noises and talking were muffled except for one conversation, leaving Mariah to assume the door to her room was closed.

She left her eyes closed, deciding to listen to the conversation that sounded the closest to her. And by their voices, Mariah could tell it was Sam and Dean. She was almost overjoyed to hear that their voices were clear, and that she could hear every word.

 _"So, she'll be okay?"_

 _"As far as I'm concerned, absolutely. No broken bones, no head tramua. Really, it's a miracle. We will have to keep her for a bit, however."_

Mariah nearly smiled. Last time she saw them, she legitimately told them they didn't give a shit about her. Well, she supposed people change. Or, she was just wrong from the beginning.

She's met a number of people who've acted completely different from what they actually feel about a person.

 _"That's probably for the best."_

Mariah wanted to frown, but forced herself to keep her face relaxed.

 _"Why do you say that?"_

 _"Oh, uh...ever since we were kids...our little sister has always been the one to be on the go."_

Mariah's annoyed mood instantly disappeared and had to hold back the urge to laugh. Apparently she was the Winchester's little sister now. Honestly, that thought both made Mariah happy and terrified.

Hell, if she was their little sister, she wouldn't be able to do _anything._

 _"Ah, I understand that. Well, I'll leave you to it. She should wake up soon."_

Mariah heard the doctor open the door, and listened to his footsteps fade before he closed the door behind him.

She turned her head to the right and opened her eyes slowly. She was rewarded with a bright light and a pure white room that was fuzzy until her vision cleared. Sam and Dean stood near the door, looking completely out of place because of their attire. She could relate. Being a hunter didn't really give you the option to have designer clothes unless you were posing as an FBI agent or had to dress up for a case.

Sam and Dean were looking at each other, unaware Mariah was observing them and shamelessly listening to their conversation, or rather, argument.

"Little sister?" Sam asked lowly, sounding a little unimpressed with Dean's lie.

"I was put on the spot, I had to come up with _something_."

"She doesn't have the same last name as us."

"She could be married." Dean argued.

"Being _married_ isn't on her paperwork."

"And neither are we, smart one."

"I'm just surprised _little sister_ is what you came up with, out of all things." Mariah suddenly piped up, her voice sounding dry and raspy. She cleared her throat when Sam and Dean suddenly turned towards her, shock written all over their face. "What?" She said after a moment, a small crack in her voice.

"Hey, I had to say something, alright?" Dean muttered with a frown, shifting his weight while shoving his hands into his pockets. Mariah smiled at how easily Dean could be riled up.

Mariah exhaled, and avoided eye contact with both of them. Most of what happened yesterday she didn't remember, except Willow dying, the Wendigo breathing on her, and her dead weight being carried around through the dark corridors.

The rest was just a blur.

Somehow, Mariah still firmly believed that is wasn't fair that she was able to make it out alive, and Willow didn't. Even the doctor said she lost a heavy amount of blood, and she'd been bleeding for three days. Why wasn't she dead? Mariah was sure she wouldn't stop asking herself that until she came to the conclusion she was just some human that was able to take a really bad beating.

Mariah would give anything to switch places with Willow.

"That reminds me," Mariah started after she pulled herself away from her thoughts, looking up at Sam. She squinted against the bright light her eyes had yet to adjust to. "I got myself into that mess, and I'm sorry you had to haul my dead weight around." She said apologetically, the mood in the room seeming to change almost instantly. "I'm sure that wasn't the highlight of your day." She finished her sentence with a grin.

"It's fine." Sam replied easily, returning a small smile. Before anything else, though, Dean's shit-eating grin came back.

"I'm sure that wasn't, but you hitting on him sure was." He said both cockily and cheerfully, and Mariah just felt like crawling into a hole. She hit on Sam? What else did she do? Mariah wasn't exactly sure if she wanted to find out.

Dean looked between Mariah and Sam, and when he saw Sam wasn't smiling, but instead was giving him a look Mariah could describe as _bitch-face_ , his cocky grin faltered and he looked away quickly.

Mariah on the other hand, was blushing. "I flirted with you?" She asked, her voice sounding a little embarrassed and oddly happy.

Sam shrugged; Dean nodded.

Mariah rolled her eyes. Great, now she didn't know if she was being messed with, or Dean was actually telling the truth. And being able to roll her eyes without feeling immense pain was fantastic.

"You don't remember?" Dean inquired.

Mariah's eyes narrowed. A vague memory of her saying something came back, and she was probably one-hundred percent sure Dean _wasn't_ with them at the time she said it; Sam must have told him. She looked between them, and she could've sworn Sam looked worried for a second.

"No," she said slowly, then a small smile graced her lips, before it turned into a smirk. "Did it work?"

"Considering the situation, I don't think so."

"That means it did."

"What?"

"Ah, there were so many better pick up lines I could've used."

"Um-"

"It seems Mariah's half-dead self has more balls than she usually does."

 _"What?"_

"What?"

For the first time Mariah has seen, Dean was laughing and Sam looked confused as hell. Mariah couldn't help but give a small laugh, but put a quick stop to it when it began to cause her pain.

Mariah didn't know whether to hate or love the fact she had more fun with two acquaintances than she has ever had than with two of her closest friends. Perhaps she could call them friends, now.

And she didn't know whether to hate or love the fact she'd like to follow them.

Reed's assumption came crawling back into her mind, but Mariah just ignored it. Really, every hunter had their demons, and by what she's seen, Sam and Dean were two of the most kind hunters she's ever met.

Plus, everyone makes mistakes.

And the general idea of spending her hunting career with them definitely wasn't a bad thought.

After a moment of short, comfortable silence, Mariah slowly but surely pushed herself up into a sitting position and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Pain in her abdomen and the brothers' frantic words were telling her to stop, but Mariah just frowned.

She held up her hand and showed Sam and Dean her palm. "I'm not doing a cartwheel, chill out."

Once she was stable and the pain subsided, she waved them over. They complied without a second thought, since they had already moved closer while she was moving to sit up; Mariah just grinned at their worried expressions.

She outstretched her arm to the closest of the two, who ended up being Dean. "Help me stand."

"...what?"

"Help me stand. If you don't, I'll do it myself."

With that, Dean quickly but carefully grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. Mariah did most of the work which was unexpected to Dean, but he said nothing. Then, out of the blue, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Dean's torso and proceeded to hug him.

Sam and Dean exchanged confused looks, but Sam nodded at Mariah to signal that Dean should hug her back.

Dean did just that.

Without a word but with a smile, she stepped back from Dean and reached out for Sam. Sam took her hand and Mariah used it as leverage to pull herself towards him. Sam had to move forward a bit, however, so the IV wasn't ripped from her arm. And with that, she removed her hand from his and wrapped her arms around him.

Sam hugged back a lot quicker than Dean did.

 _Being hugged by giants was an oddly nice feeling._

She released Sam from her hug and was helped by both of them so she could sit down again. She grinned at both of them, but inhaled and exhaled a large amount of air from all the movement.

Her chest still hurt.

"Alright, what was that for?" Dean said after a moment, as if he'd been waiting to ask the question for a long time now.

"You saved my life." Mariah replied quietly, her happy grin turning into a sad, small smile. _You saved mine while I couldn't save her's._ "I ought to thank you."

"Oh, well...you know-"

"You're...uh, welcome-"

"Don't hurt yourselves." Mariah joked, watching them become oddly uncomfortable. "Well I'm sure you two have to get going." She sighed, looking down at her hands, eyes trailing up her arm before it stopped at her IV. Her eyelids felt heavy, implying sleep was just around the corner. But then she looked up again. "Let's hope when we meet again, I'm not bleeding out?"

"Absolutely."

"Definitely."

* * *

Mariah couldn't thank the brothers enough; they somehow managed to retrieve all her belongings that was left behind when the Wendigo snatched her. Including the flamethrower.

It was before they left, Dean suddenly remembered something and jogged out of the room. Sam was left behind, and he just exchanged an amused look with Mariah.

Dean came back with her bag, and Mariah became ecstatic. She wanted to give them both hugs again, but that time, they forced her to stay in the hospital bed.

 _"You're both sticks in the mud."_

 _"I haven't heard that before."_

The first thing Mariah did was go through her bag, and ignore the flamethrower. Mariah really didn't want to be reminded about who last handled it.

She checked her phone, and seeing as she had no notifications, she set it on the nightstand beside her bed.

When she saw everything was there, she set the bag on the ground and relaxed, soon falling asleep comfortably after shoving all bad thoughts out of her head.

And it was around six o'clock in the evening when Mariah received a text.

Mariah rolled over stiffly and picked up her phone when she heard the familiar _ping_ that indicated she got a message.

She squinted at her screen, her heart stopping as soon as she read that the text came from Willow's older sister, Marissa.

 _Hey, I heard you were in the hospital. How are you doing?_

 _Is Willow okay?_

* * *

 _ **And that's all for now! I'll post a chapter next for BTCBB.**_

 ** _I apologize for any mistakes._**

 ** _-Pastel_**


End file.
